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MIT Developing Self-Assembling Computer Chips

Posted by samzenpus on from the so-easy-it-builds-itself dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on have released research detailing how molecules in chips can self-assemble, potentially reducing manufacturing costs. The researchers have developed a technique in which polymers automatically fall into place to create an integrated circuit."

65 comments

  1. Self-assembling post by Kingrames · · Score: 4, Funny

    This post made itself. I accept no responsibility.

    --
    If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
    1. Re:Self-assembling post by Cryacin · · Score: 2, Funny

      But it's a garden of eden post! LIAR!!!

      --
      Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    2. Re:Self-assembling post by davester666 · · Score: 1

      It's just like a computer to deflect it's responsibility onto the computer.

      I can see the headline now:

      Skynet says "I was programmed to do this!"

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    3. Re:Self-assembling post by Sulphur · · Score: 1

      db 'This post is written in self assembly'

  2. Beginning of the End by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Good to know that we'll soon have replicators...

    1. Re:Beginning of the End by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Funny

      And I for one...

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:Beginning of the End by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      And I for one...

    3. Re:Beginning of the End by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      And I for one ...

    4. Re:Beginning of the End by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 1

      Mod Parent and GP down - everybody knows that synthehol isn't as good as the real thing.

    5. Re:Beginning of the End by Mitchell314 · · Score: 1

      Oh damn, nobody told me the self assembly was recursive . . .

      --
      I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
    6. Re:Beginning of the End by trapnest · · Score: 1

      whoosh. Wrong replicators bro.

    7. Re:Beginning of the End by Matrix9180 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicator_(Stargate)

      --
      120chars for a sig is teh suck
    8. Re:Beginning of the End by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I for one

    9. Re:Beginning of the End by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!!!!

  3. Self assembling reply by unity100 · · Score: 2, Funny

    this reply also made itself. looks like its out of our hands now

    --
    Read radical news here
    1. Re:Self assembling reply by siloko · · Score: 2

      I guess it's out of our hands in much the same way as that Connect 4 token's final resting place is 'out of our hands' once we put it in the slot. Polymers falling into place is not the same as 'self-replicating intelligent life form'. Come back in a few million years and see if they've evolved!

    2. Re:Self assembling reply by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Sorry about the -1, Offtopic there... it self-assembled that mod.

  4. Now all I need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...is a self-assembling girlfriend.

    1. Re:Now all I need by bar-agent · · Score: 1

      All girlfriends self-assemble. You just have to decide how long to wait before that first date.

      --
      i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
    2. Re:Now all I need by drkim · · Score: 1

      ...all people are self assembling.
      I did it myself in 9 months.

    3. Re:Now all I need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You insensitive clod! I am your self replicating girlfriend!

      Wait...Why do I need you?...

      *initiating extermination sequence*

  5. wecreatedthecylons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just a reminder: We created the cylons.

    1. Re:wecreatedthecylons by Pvt_Ryan · · Score: 1

      And then the cylons created cylons...

      I think I see a pattern...

  6. Judgement Day by tom_fpsb · · Score: 1

    Creeps closer...

  7. They took our jobs.. by JDmetro · · Score: 0

    My cat is missing the body and subject. Never mind the tongue now.

  8. Integrated circuit, eh? by charlesbakerharris · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does this mean the transistors and the capacitors don't have to drink at different fountains anymore? We've certainly come a long way.

  9. Send in John Connor... by ntimid8 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Cause this sounds like Skynet all over again.

  10. terminator not required by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or ws that batteries not required

  11. That's it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm taking the red pill.

  12. Replicators ! by OricAtmos48K · · Score: 1

    I have seen that on a tv show ...

  13. Exciting stuff by sammydee · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is a really hot topic in research right now. For my final year project on my physics degree I am investigating a theory of a model fluid with a repulsive step potential and it's amazing what kind of self assembly you get on a mesoscopic level.

    At certain temperatures and pressures the molecules will all just spontaneously line up into stripes or clusters. This could have amazingly useful applications in chip assembly, because you don't need to assemble the chip any more - you just engineer a molecule that assembles itself into the right shape.

    --
    This is how the loudness war is killing music.
    1. Re:Exciting stuff by colonelquesadilla · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sounds a lot like proteins really... just saying. Is this sort of thing being viewed as a form of biomimetics?

      --
      It's either false dichotomies, or the terrorists win, you decide.
    2. Re:Exciting stuff by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      Sorry bud, I just patented that.

      Eastern District Court of Texas, here I come!

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    3. Re:Exciting stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This could have amazingly useful applications in chip assembly, because you don't need to assemble the chip any more - you just engineer a molecule that assembles itself into the right shape.

      Instead of _a_ molecule I think it is alot more versatile to have different molecules with different properties that work in cohesion to form something like a computer chip. One type of molecule will limit the amount of combinations you can have and paths of self assembly. When technology has reached this far, we are getting close to how self assembly works in nature.

    4. Re:Exciting stuff by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      “Just”? Engineering such a molecular Transformer sounds much harder than just creating the finished chip

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    5. Re:Exciting stuff by inigopete · · Score: 1

      I'd be interested to know how closely this links with protein structure and self-assembly. It's called secondary and tertiary (and, to a degree, quartenary) structure with proteins and occurs thousands of times a second in living cells, self-catalysed and at room (or body) temperature in most cases: relatively simple long-chain molecules composed from only 20 possible different elements (amino acids) will become incredibly complex structures capable of anything from incredible structural strength to active motor function to similarly complex replication.

    6. Re:Exciting stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      This particular project may not be that closely linked, but much of the self-assembly research going on currently (by Erik Winfree et. al.) uses biological materials (DNA, proteins) as the building blocks.

      Part of this is because some of the target applications involve interactions with biological systems (people, bacteria, etc.) and part is because DNA manufacturing is well-studied and powerful (in a computational sense).

  14. Does it work with GDB? by flyingfsck · · Score: 3, Funny

    How do you debug self assembly?

    Is it supported by GCC yet?

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    1. Re:Does it work with GDB? by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 1

      Given RMS' ties to MIT, it's only a matter of time...

  15. ID by Obble · · Score: 1

    So is this an example of Evolution or INTELegent Design?

    1. Re:ID by chichilalescu · · Score: 1

      mod parent up

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      new sig
    2. Re:ID by chichilalescu · · Score: 1

      seriously, guys. mod parent up. it's important to ask the right questions from time to time, even if you have no idea how to begin to answer. What is the difference between a virus and a selfassembling chip? dump their seed in the right environment, and they start eating. or something like that.

      --
      new sig
  16. Don't worry. by Osmosis_Garett · · Score: 1

    What could possibly go wrong?

  17. So, this is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    how skynet get started?

  18. And what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I see absolutely nothing new here. They didn't actually build any practical electronic device with their self-assembled PS/PDMS, did they ? Self-assembling polymer structures on e-beam lithography patterns is not exactly a fresh grand breakthrough...

  19. autofac? by orcus · · Score: 1

    Cool - I've always wanted an autofac.... Or two.... Or three...

    --
    First they burn books, then they burn people.
  20. I wonder if... by ctrl-alt-canc · · Score: 1

    ...self assembled computer chips program themselves in self-assembly language.
    And do they also self-debug ?!? It would be a dream for every programmer...

    1. Re:I wonder if... by thunrida · · Score: 1

      What dream? Getting fired dream?

    2. Re:I wonder if... by Ironhandx · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Mod parent up, look what happened to the illustrious US manufacturing industry. Its still going strong, but only employs about 5% of the bodies that it used to.

      As more and more modern tech automates everything around us we're going to be forced to either move to a socialist government type or suffer the consequences of everyone being unemployed, hungry, and pissed off.

  21. It's ALIVE!!! by sourcerror · · Score: 1

    There's a pretty good scifi that starts with self-modifying, self-replicating robots: screamer

    1. Re:It's ALIVE!!! by sourcerror · · Score: 1

      Of course they turn on humans: what else would you expect?

  22. Time to stock up on machine guns and lots of ammo! by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 1

    Time to stock up on machine guns and lots of ammo! EMP guns only work a few times before they are able to work around them.

  23. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What could possibly go wrong?

  24. import skynet by Ecks · · Score: 1

    http://xkcd.com/521/ -- It's in the mouseover.

  25. Mr. Crab wants to know by Loko+Draucarn · · Score: 1

    Can a Music player made from these play I_Cannot_Be_Played_on_Music_Player_X.flac?

  26. Useless article for publicity by cyfer2000 · · Score: 1

    This is a piece of useless article just for some kind of publicity. Let me put more interesting one for who have been tricked in to this thread for more information about polymer self assembly.

    --
    There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
  27. Re:Time to stock up on machine guns and lots of am by Creepy · · Score: 1

    Or they could just make the chips radiation hardened to begin with... oh, wait, you're talking about "magic" technologies like in the movies. Yeah - anti-EMP adaptive technology because radiation hardening is too easy and you need something that can kill the baddies, right?

  28. Terminator Tag by Zotdogg · · Score: 1

    How has this story not been tagged with the "Terminator" tag.

    Maybe it's because this isn't such a new thing (according to previous posters) but it seems to be that the average post length for this story seems to be very low and they're all about one SciFi-esque self-sustaining robotic race or another. I mean, come on, if you've been following /. here with Religious-like or even RSS-like regularity, you would have seen how we are raising our own AI in it's own little sandboxed area compelete with environmental risk\reward system meant to teach the AI, how DARPA is VERY close to having a working (and almost practical) exoskeleton, how image recognition is progressing, how drones can already choose "targets of interest" (at least I think I remember something about that one), how Robot walking algorithms\programs are old hat, how robotic hands and other apendages already exist, how robotic human-analog faces are progressing, and on a less related note - I still can't get over how Skynet-y this Lockheed Multip Kill Vehicle vid is.

    Does anyone know of one site that is tracking this kind of development. I'm envisioning a site with something like the Vitruvian Man, maybe built in flash so that you could hover over and see the collection of data available on the web for that part of the "body". IE - Head: ImageRecog, cameras, facial; Torso: BioReactors, Computer\AI systems, mechanical muscle analogs; Arms: mechanical control of robotic digits, robotic weaponry; Legs: Asimo, DARPA exoskeleton. (sounds like a good project, that I'll never get around to).

    - Zotdogg