Hewlett-Packard made a significant announcement today. Researchers at HP have demonstrated a replacement for the ubiqitous transistor …. which was probably the most important invention of the 20th century. Their invention, called the “Molecular Crossbar Latch”, performs all of the functions of a transistor, and has the potential to be much smaller and more efficient than the transistor. The inventors are shown below, and work at the HP QSR Labs:-
Their invention is described in U.S. Patent 6,586,965 . At its most basic level, this “nanowire nanotransistor” device simply consists of crossed wires and molecular switches… as depicted in the following diagram:-
The wires are arranged in a kind of mesh or ‘crossbar’ pattern, and may be made from platinum or carbon nanotubes. Electrical signals that are sent through the wires control the orientation of the molecules located at the junctions of those wires.
The choice of molecule is critical to the operation of these nanoswitches. The patent refers to rotaxanes and catenanes as being good candidates because of their bi-stable nature and their good response to electrical signals. See this link for a discussion of the unusual properties of Rotaxanes and Catenanes, and this link for info on molecular switches and nanoelevators. (Oh, and the “Latch” part of the term simply refers to ‘temporary storage on a wire’).
Memo to HP’s Marketing department: The term “Molecular Crossbar Latch” sucks needs work.
Anyway, this looks like a big deal. A true molecular-scale nanoswitch, that can form the basis of nanoprocessor systems and programmable logic arrays is big news.
I wonder if its too early to short Intel and/or AMD?
Related posts:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Very interesting, this kind of stuff is going to change everything in the next century. But I believe this is just the beginning, there will be very interesting inventions very soon.
And I was starting to think the transistor would never get replaced!