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Scientists Sort Semiconducting Nanotubes by Size
SuperGrads writes "Scientists working at Rice University have developed the world's first method for not only sorting semiconducting carbon nanotubes from their metallic brethren, but also for arranging them by diameter size. This ability is essential for building devices from these tubes and paves the way for high-speed nanoscale electronics."
This is disgusting! Until it can be proven that carbon atoms are not alive according to God, these evil scientists must be stopped from experiment on them!
(/me mods own post: troll)
Let's hope nobody sneezes!
ACHOO!!!! Ahhh crap... Gotta start again.
When electronics in the future is made up of carbon tubes of different sizes, will we have machine in the drug store with all sorts of various sockets that I can plug them into to test them?
(this joke may reference things that are too old for the average Slashdotter to get. :D)
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
SPACE ELEVATORS!!!
Ok, who shrunk the scientists this time?!
Jesus said to his disciples: "If you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one" - Luke 22:36
Nanotubes have many potential applications, but so far the most successful one is as conductive fillers http://www.patagon.8m.com/equations/cnt.html(adddi ng a small amount into a polymer makes is conductive enough to dissipate static charge or block electromagentic interference).
Tons per year are used for this, particularly in the auto industry.
If they start doing the flying trapeze act, I'm walkin away.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Hey, EVERYTHING I hear about nanotubes is promoted as paving the way for high-speed nanoscale electronics. When are they going to actually get here?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
How disgusting! We must stop this attack on our values! We must stand up against this afront! Sort nanotubes by colour, not size! As we all know, size doesn't matter...
Fry: Whoa! A real live spaceship!
Farnsworth: I designed it myself, let me show you some of the different lengths of wire I used.
Well, can I be the first to say that it's about time. I've just been emptying my nanotubes into a big jar that I keep by the bed.
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This is a joke. I am joking. You have been joked with.
World's smallest game of pick-up-sticks, anyone?
Rice does some pretty amazing stuff with nanotech-- I got a tour a few months ago of one of their interdisciplinary labs where electrical engineers are working alongside chemists who are collaborating with bioengineers. Really amazing stuff that's way beyond my scope (at least as a sophomore computer engineering major).
Students at Rice are constantly drilled with the buzzword, though, and are probably more tired of hearing it than the rest of the technology world. It's hard to pick up a copy of the school newspaper without finding "NANOTECH" in big, bold letters somewhere on the first three pages.
Now if only we could get our football team on par with the rest of the collegiate world...
Children sort toys by colour!
Thats exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for posting it for me. It saved me all that typing.
God spoke to me.
American labs seem to be creating the nanotech revolution. Especially government subsidized academic labs. Even the commercial labs like IBM get lots of public subsidy.
I wonder whether the next generation of devices that uses the tech will see American developers use the "homegrown advantage". I wonder whether American education will lead the way in teaching how to produce software for these new kinds of (massively parallel, nonlinear, paradigm-busting...) devices.
Will American investment in nanotech return a fair share of the benefit to Americans, or are we giving it away? Do multinational corporations count as "Americans"?
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make install -not war
Tubular!
There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
In theory, metallic nanotubes can have an electrical current density more than 1,000 times greater than metals such as silver and copper. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotubes] So imagine that in a single pentium processor chip, there lies miles of carbon nano-tubes with excellent electrical properties that minimize their capacitive effects. This would definitely make a revolution on semiconductor fabrication, because in theory their[the nanotubes'] would be one hundredth of a 90 nm IC device. Translating this into our lives would mean to be able to play Battlefield for a duration of 24 hours in our one time charged lap-top. Or imagine palm computers that could beat the best GMs of chess today. Anything would be more scalable than ever if they could really make something of these nano-tubes rather than playing with them and sorting them. They say ninety nine percent of the research is just trash, but at one point, when the one percent succeeds then comes the breakthrough. We hope to see carbon nanotubes in our computers, maybe our children will do that.
There's plenty of room at the bottom! Richard P. Feynmann
"paving the way" means, makes an easy path for travel. This just solves one difficulty out of many. The hype on Slashdot is relentless.
Currently hooked on AMP
Good, I say. That should keep those scientists busy for a while.
While they're at it, they can sort out my sock drawer. Gotta keep those PhDs employed...
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Little tiny elves.
In other news Keebler licenses nano elves for a new type of cookie.
Sorting semiconducting nanotubes by size? That's not a big deal, certainly not worth talking about here. Just grow the diameter and length you want.
Separating semiconducting and metallic nanotubes in bulk? (microfluidics is bulk for nanotubes) That's a huge deal! We can't grow just metallic or just semiconducting nanotubes. Previously, we could look at nanotubes one at a time using various methods to *find* a metallic or semiconducting nanotube, but sorting is another thing. If this really works, it will be great for nanotube electronics.
Those scientists must have fine tweezers and steady hands...