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Nanowires Four Times Faster Than Silicon
evileyetmc writes "Advances in nanowires have shown that they may be the future in cheap, high-performance electronics. Researchers at Harvard have shown that nanowire transistors are are least four times faster than existing silicon ones. These nanowires show promise in being able to be embedded in plastics, and could lead to devices such as flexible displays that process information in the screen itself."
No, it actually processes information BEHIND the screen (and I wouldn't actually call that flexible despite the desire to twist it in all kinds of crazy configurations by beating it up against your head).
"Complicated lithography" is why we can stuff so many (millions) transistors on a chip. LSI would be impossible without it or a similar process. The idea of something that you have to sort and handle on an individual basis makes these transistors a non-starter for most applications. On the other hand, something like this could be used for microwave amplifiers. They could also be used the same way we now use ECL; as front-end flip-flops which convert signals to lower clock rates that can be dealt with by conventional circuitry.
As time goes by, supply and demand will dictate the price of this new technology.
Obviously true, but the supply curve is largely determined by production costs. So if production costs remain high, the price will not fall.
That said, the history of technology is encouraging in the sense that production costs often fall - a lot.
...following the principles of Heisenburger's Uncertain Cat...
It would give a whole new meaning to Eyes Only levels of secrecy. Nanowire paper which is displaying encrypted data that can only be decrypted by someone with the correct processors in their eyeballs.
Of course by that time the sillycone will be 4 times faster than these are.
Based on what? Has silicone gotten much faster in the past year?
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
Nanotechnology is unlikely to make any significant impact in the next 10 years. We may make significant advances in the research lab, but that doesn't mean there will be any products. I'm thinking it may be slightly better than nuclear fusion...
See, this is where your old computer comes in. You just put it on the papers you don't want to blow away--and they don't!
On a more serious note, the reason for having flexibility is mostly for ease of use. You can't fold up many displays now--how would you like to put one in your back pocket, forget about it, then sit down--crunch!
With flexibility also comes easier storage. Have you ever tried storing something large and bulky? It's a pain, right? Say an old dresser. What would you give to be able to fold it up, put it under one arm, and stick it in the basement? It'd be much easier and take up mauch less space.