Doped silicon crystals are the basis of modern microelectronics. We've been pursuing the path from micro to nanoelectronics for quite some time now.
And some of Feynman's vision has already come to fruition. In 1959, he claimed that a particle of dust could contain the information of 25 million books.
- One bit must be held in 100 atoms to do this. It is now feasible to create elementary storage units with 12 atoms. So there's capacity for over 250 million books on a particle of dust.
- Carbon nanotubes, commonly known as nanotubes, are an example of future nanomaterials in electronics.
- Graphene layers have been rolled into tubes to create small carbon cylinders with a diameter of roughly 100 nanometers.
- Only the rules of quantum physics can explain their unique electrical characteristics.
- Because the electrons pass through the Nano tube almost without interference, i.e. without being deflected by blocking atoms as they would be in a metallic conductor, they carry electronic currents better than any copper conductor, depending on the diameter of the tube.
Stanford University researchers have built a functioning computer with 178 nanotube transistors. It possesses the processing capacity of a 1955 computer, which could occupy an entire gymnasium. Even farther, the nanomaterial "silicene" goes.
- Atoms are stacked in two-dimensional layers with honeycomb patterns, similar to graphene. But, unlike graphene, which is formed of carbon, silicene is a foil formed of elementary silicon, a semiconductor, which makes it particularly attractive for computer chip fabrication.
- The first transistor constructed of silicene was constructed in 2014 by researchers at the University of Texas.
Despite the fact that silicene's manufacturing and processing are still technically challenging (it decays when exposed to oxygen, for example), there is high expectation that this substance can dramatically improve the performance of computer chips.
- Transistors made of nanotubes or silicon might be switched significantly quicker, resulting in significantly more powerful computer processors.
- The creation of nanotubes for use in computers, on the other hand, is not the end of the narrative.
Physicists and computer designers want to employ single molecules as transistors in the future. In reality, by flipping a switch, some organic molecules may be transformed from electrically conductive to insulating.
~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan
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