Scientists build the first computer with carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes , tiny tubular shaped molecular structures from carbon , have been studied for a long time. They have many potential applications , especially in the world of technology, but no one was sure if we could use in a practical way in the construction of advanced electronic systems . Doubt just be clear : yes, we can , as demonstrated by a group of scientists from Stanford University who have been able to build the first computer with carbon nanotube circuitry .

The above machine has only 178 transistors, far below the millions that can be found in any computer processor market . However the circuit manufactured by scientists based carbon nanotube is effective ; allows the machine to run an operating system capable of performing single basic calculation and simultaneous classification and switch between the two . According to the researchers, has a processing capacity similar to Intel 4004 released in 1971 .

overcoming obstacles

Getting to achieve a carbon-based computer has been a daunting task . On one side are the work , projects and research that the scientific community has made over recent years material without which it could have been manufactured . On the other end we have the many obstacles that the scientists had to overcome to complete the project .

Of all these two stand out: the nanotubes tend to " self-assemble " in unpredictable ways , and in some cases these links cause some pass nanotubes behave like metal wires conducting electricity constantly instead of " turning off and on " . So the electronic chaos was assured.

The solution came in the form of a new manufacturing technique have dubbed " immune to imperfections" . Simplifying the matter , basically developed an algorithm capable of designing circuits operating even though the tubes are not aligned and managed to vaporize , literally , those who do not behave as they should increase its temperature with an electric shock.

Best of all is that they believe that this technique could be applied in industrial processes in a not too distant future . Ie mass could be made reliable transistors carbon nanotubes to construct turn them chips .
Beyond computers

But what is special about carbon nanotubes ? This is the crux of the matter . Not only dissipate heat much more efficiently than silicon , they also have a very small size ( thousands of them could fit in a human hair ) . The first would enable us to largely get rid of the problem of heat dissipation in electronic devices , the latter , continue " miniaturizing " forget transistors and silicon chips in a short time can not be made smaller .

In short , by demonstrating that it is feasible to build complex electronic systems using nanotechnologies beyond silicon have taken a big step forward that brings us closer to the goal of being able to build devices smaller, faster and more efficient than any of the current .