Silicon Valley may presently have to change its name , as the day of using silicon to create computer chips could be list thanks to the work of a Stanford University - lead squad of scientist . By usingnanomaterials – think materials measuring less than 100 nanometers in at least one dimension – the researchers have managed to make a new type of chip that they say can operate up to 1,000 time more expeditiously thansilicon chips .
An upcoming paper in a special variant of the journalIEEE Computingentitled " Rebooting Computing " will provide details of the newfangled Nano - Engineered Computing Systems Technology , or N3XT . The project , which need the collaboration of three other university , was born out of a motive to defeat the current shortcomings of Si computer chip .
Due to the fact that these can only be manufacture at temperatures of around 982 ° ascorbic acid ( 1,800 ° F ) , it is not possible to stack new silicon chip on top of existing ones without damaging the lower layers . therefore , silicon chips are always design on single layers , connected by conducting wire .
However , this means that data must often travel over longer distances than necessary , thereby blow energy . For this reason , the team attempt to make a new case of multi - story chip , which would allow the transfer of data point across much shorter distances .
An instance of the chip . Subhasish Mitra and H.-S. Philip Wong
Using materials more advanced than Si , they were able to create circuit plank at temperature low-toned enough for multiple layers to be manufacture on top of one another . This mean that rather than traveling across multiple chips in fiat to get from point A to point B , data can now simply jump between fleck via lilliputian electronic " lift " call vias .
These are also importantly more advanced than the current mechanisms used to shape the flowing of information in silicon chips . Traditionally , this is accomplish usingtransistors , which are like switches that either countenance signals to feed or blockade them , thereby channelise data in the form of ace and zeros .
Yet N3XT chips use C nanotube transistor ( CNTs ) , which are faster and more energy - efficient than silicon transistors . The terminal product is a significantly more powerful case of computer chip , as explain by sketch co - author H.-S. Philip Wong , who said in astatementthat “ when you unite high fastness with lower energy use , N3XT systems outperform established approaches by a ingredient of a thousand . ”
