Monday, 13. July 2009, 06:47:39
laser, transistor, Computer, chip technology
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An optical transistor that uses one laser beam to control another could form the heart of a future generation of ultrafast light-based computers, say Swiss researchers.
Conventional computers are based on transistors, which allow one electrode to control the current moving through the device and are combined to form logic gates and processors. The new component achieves the same thing, but for laser beams, not electric currents.
A green laser beam is used to control the power of an orange laser beam passing through the device.
This offers another possible route to light-based rather than electronic, computing. Such "photonic" computing is desirable because components using optical fibres carrying light could be much faster than those using wires to carry electricity.
Source:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17400-laser-light-switch-could-leave-transistors-in-the-shade.html
Thursday, 23. April 2009, 08:09:28
booting, transistor, Computer, nanotechnology
The ferroelectric materials found in today's "smart cards" used in subway, ATM and fuel cards soon may eliminate the time-consuming booting and rebooting of computer operating systems by providing an "instant-on" capability as well as preventing losses from power outages.
Researchers supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) nanoscale interdisciplinary research team award and three Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers at Cornell University, Penn State University and Northwestern University recently added ferroelectric capability to material used in common computer transistors, a feat scientists tried to achieve for more than half a century. They reported their findings in the April 17 journal Science.
Source:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=114612&org=NSF&from=news
Thursday, 5. March 2009, 11:07:40
Computer, transistor, flash memory, magnets
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For more than 40 years, computer processors have increased in power and shrunk in size at a tremendous rate. But engineers are approaching the point where there is not much more to be gained from tweaking the traditional ways of making those components (see our feature What happens when silicon can shrink no more?).
However, advanced new forms of transistors and memory unveiled this week could develop into products that keep that growth from tailing off.
Two US groups have announced transistors almost 1000 times smaller than those in use today, and a version of flash memory that could store all the books in the US Library of Congress in a square 4 inches (10 cm) across.
Thomas Russell at the University of Massachusetts and his international team have become the first to realise a long-mooted idea - that flash memory could be made from patterns of nanoscale magnets.
Source:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16643-computer-components-shrinking-faster-than-predicted.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Thursday, 31. July 2008, 08:26:37
transistor, FET, chip technology, field affect transistors
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Portuguese researchers have created the first paper-based transistors. To be more precise, they’ve made the first field effect transistors (FET) with a paper interstrate layer.
Read more...
Monday, 26. May 2008, 12:07:26
gallium nitride, transistor, electronics, automobile
Even before Weixiao Huang received his doctorate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his new transistor captured the attention of some of the biggest American and Japanese automobile companies. The 2008 graduate’s invention could replace one of the most common pieces of technology in the world—the silicon transistor for high-power and high-temperature electronics.
Huang, who comes from humble roots as the son of farmers in rural China, has invented a new transistor that uses a compound material known as gallium nitride (GaN), which has remarkable material properties. The new GaN transistor could reduce the power consumption and improve the efficiency of power electronics systems in everything from motor drives and hybrid vehicles to house appliances and defense equipment.
Source:
http://physorg.com/news129903497.html
Thursday, 20. December 2007, 09:20:55
silicon, graphene, transistor, chip technology
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Intel has developed a new kind of transistor, made of a material other than silicon, that has the potential to be faster and use less electricity than today's chips. And, crucially, the new transistors are economical and could be fabricated using existing manufacturing facilities because they can be built directly on top of standard silicon wafers. Such chips made with these nonsilicon components are still at least a decade away, but industry experts believe that they are one of the more promising options to replace silicon in the coming years.
As transistors get increasingly small, the silicon that composes them doesn't work as well: electricity leaks through the layers, causing excess heat and faulty logic. Researchers at Intel and other chip-making companies such as AMD and IBM, as well as at universities around the world, are scrambling to find a replacement for silicon. Some suspect that carbon nanotubes or another carbon material called graphene could be the answer.
But others are putting money and research into compound semiconductors, a class of semiconductor that is made from a combination of elements from the third and fifth columns of the periodic table.
Source:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19882/
Wednesday, 12. December 2007, 11:23:34
electronics, nanotubes, nanotechnology, transistor
The ability to create flexible, transparent electronics could lead to a host of novel applications, such as e-paper and electronic car windshields. Now, scientists have constructed a transistor made of a network of nanotubes that may serve as an essential component in a trans-flex device.
Such devices require two main components: light displays and current-controlling transistors. While scientists have found that OLEDs and LCDs work well as light displays, finding a truly transparent and flexible transistor material is still an open area. Usually, these transistors consist of metallic nanowires.
Recently, researchers from Hanyang University in Seoul have constructed a thin film transistor made of networked single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on a glass substrate. While it’s not the first thin film transistor made of SWNTs, it has the advantage of allowing a high density of SWNTs to be grown under lower temperatures than normally required.
Source:
http://www.physorg.com/news115382102.html
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