. Space Industry and Business News .




.
NANO TECH
Down to the wire as Silicon links shrink to atomic scale
by Staff Writers
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 09, 2012

The wires were made by precisely placing chains of phosphorus atoms within a silicon crystal, according to the study, which includes researchers from the University of Melbourne and Purdue University in the US.

The narrowest conducting wires in silicon ever made - just four atoms wide and one atom tall - have been shown to have the same electrical current carrying capability of copper, according to a new study published in the journal Science.

Despite their astonishingly tiny diameter - 10,000 times thinner than a human hair - these wires have exceptionally good electrical properties, raising hopes they will serve to connect atomic-scale components in the quantum computers of tomorrow.

"Interconnecting wiring of this scale will be vital for the development of future atomic-scale electronic circuits," says the lead author of the study, Bent Weber, a PhD student in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia.

The wires were made by precisely placing chains of phosphorus atoms within a silicon crystal, according to the study, which includes researchers from the University of Melbourne and Purdue University in the US.

The researchers discovered that the electrical resistivity of their wires - a measure of the ease with which electrical current can flow - does not depend on the wire width. Their behaviour is described by Ohm's law, which is a fundamental law of physics taught to every high school student.

"It is extraordinary to show that such a basic law still holds even when constructing a wire from the fundamental building blocks of nature - atoms," says Weber.

The discovery demonstrates that electrical interconnects in silicon can shrink to atomic dimensions without loss of functionality, says the Centre's Director and leader of the research, Professor Michelle Simmons.

"Driven by the semiconductor industry, computer chip components continuously shrink in size allowing ever smaller and more powerful computers," Simmons says.

"Over the past 50 years this paradigm has established the microelectronics industry as one of the key drivers for global economic growth. A major focus of the Centre of Excellence at UNSW is to push this technology to the next level to develop a silicon-based quantum computer, where single atoms serve as the individual units of computation," she says.

"It will come down to the wire. We are on the threshold of making transistors out of individual atoms. But to build a practical quantum computer we have recognised that the interconnecting wiring and circuitry also needs to shrink to the atomic scale."

Creating such tiny components has been made possible using a technique called scanning tunnelling microscopy. "This technique not only allows us to image individual atoms but also to manipulate them and place them in position," says Weber.

Related Links
University of New South Wales
Nano Technology News From SpaceMart.com
Computer Chip Architecture, Technology and Manufacture




.
.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries






.

. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



NANO TECH
Down to the wire for silicon: Researchers create a wire 4 atoms wide, 1 atom tall
West Lafayette IN (SPX) Jan 09, 2012
The smallest wires ever developed in silicon - just one atom tall and four atoms wide - have been shown by a team of researchers from the University of New South Wales, Melbourne University and Purdue University to have the same current-carrying capability as copper wires. Experiments and atom-by-atom supercomputer models of the wires have found that the wires maintain a low capacity for r ... read more


NANO TECH
Nokia declares war in US smartphone market

Salk scientists map the frontiers of vision

Hybrid silkworms spin stronger spider silk

Microsoft to bring Kinect to Windows PCs

NANO TECH
Raytheon's Navy Multiband Terminal Tests With On-Orbit AEHF Satellite

Northrop Grumman And ITT Exelis Team For Army Vehicular Radio

Lockheed Martin Ships First Mobile User Objective System Satellite To Cape For Launch

Satellite Tracking Specialist, Track24, wins Canadian Government Contract

NANO TECH
Ariane 5, Soyuz, Vega: Three world-changing launch vehicles

Satellites: Europe's Arianespace sets 13 launches for 2012

SSC supports simultaneous launch of Elisa, Pleiades 1A and SSOT

Orbcomm and SpaceX Improve Launch Plans for OG2 Satellites

NANO TECH
Association of Old Crows Recognizes the Dangers of Persistent GPS Interference

Chinese Satellite Navigation System Beidou Begin Test Services

China's satellite navigation system will meet both civil and defense needs

Russia, India to cooperate in production of satellite navigation equipment

NANO TECH
Airbus agrees A380 deal with Hong Kong Airlines: reports

Slovenian adventurer embarks on eco-friendly world trip

Chinese carriers won't pay EU carbon charge: group

Boeing's Wichita plant closure costs jobs

NANO TECH
Relay race with single atoms: New ways of manipulating matter

Tiny wires could usher new computer era

Stanford engineers achieve record conductivity in strained lattice organic semiconductor

New technique makes it easier to etch semiconductors

NANO TECH
Ice data at your fingertips

TRMM Satellite Measured Washi's Deadly Rainfall

First ever direct measurement of the Earth's rotation

Satellites can help to grow the perfect grape

NANO TECH
Looters in N.Z. raid cargo washed up from ship

Stricken New Zealand cargo ship breaks up

Beijing to issue new air quality data after online outcry

HK environmentalists outraged at landfill proposal


.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement