Nanotech in Microchips by 2015

dotwhynot writes "Molecular electronics, a realm once considered science fiction, could be heading for our computers and devices sooner than thought. A new report on the technology roadmap of the chip industry finds a growing confidence in new nanotechnology, and forecasts that the transition to the post-silicon era could happen by 2015. The development of nanoswitches has already reached a point where it will be possible to manufacture them reliably at low cost. Intels goal over the next decade is to build chips that hold more than one trillion switches."

Comments

So far, it looks like a pipe dream to me.

[mmell]

Not that I'm against that - after all, going to the moon must've seemed like an impossible dream to most people in the 50's. A computer able to hold millions of bits of information and able to fit in a single room? Laughable.

Still, predictions that a nascent and unproven technology will sweep into widespread usage within a decade seems just a bit optimistic. I just hope that I'm wrong.

Re:Is it worth learning about in a small college?

[Ironsides]

First, learn how to design circuits in general. It won't matter what the underlying technology is after that, you can learn to use any of them. The hard part is learning how to design them in the first place. I took a class on how to design silicon chips my senior year. Give me a new technology and it won't take me long to pick up the new features not that I understand the basics.

Re:Expect a transitional phase...

[Jeff DeMaagd]

A (redudant - read my past posts on the subject) glimpse into the future: In 20 or 30 years our computers will be smaller than a Nintendo gamecube. No floppy disks, just flash (or magnetic?) memory cards and solid-state HDs. PCI bus will be cast into oblivion, when the new add-on cards fit in a PS2 memory stick. Small future, indeed.

I predict that a computer smaller than a Nintendo Gamecube will be released into the public conciousness on January 2005 in the form of the Apple Mac mini. They are pretty neat too. I think there are older examples in embedded computers as well as miniITX boards.

Why predict the use of removable memory cards? Why not also say those are considered offensive because of a global wireless network?

The only reason full size desktops and midtowers are commonly available is cost, flexibility and performance, not many are willing to trade those off.

Re:Heat

[LionKimbro]

Computing is going all low-power and parallel. Check out Intel's Platform 2015.

Thank you for your submission

[Laaserboy]

THANK YOU for your submission of a new
[x] nanostructure
[ ] laser
[x] transistor
using
[x] large molecules
[ ] DNA strands
[ ] silicon
This is a bad idea, because
[ ] a 3-D structure is difficult to heat-sink
[x] scientists likely never will produce a transistor this way
[x] silicon has unique properties that cannot be matched
[ ] this is a case of outright fraud
The problem however is not to make circuits
[ ] out of lasers
[ ] 3-D
[x] from anything but silicon
[ ] self ordered
But the problem is to make them
[x] reliably
[x] at low cost
[x] faster
Further this article was published in
[ ] Science
[ ] New Scientist
[x] NYT
[ ] Science News
which is primarily a publicity-seeking instrument, and not a great peer-reviewed journal of physics.
I can say this because I have a
[ ] BS
[ ] MS
[x] PhD
in
[x] Physics
[ ] Electrical Engineering