Nanotech in Microchips by 2015

dotwhynot writes "Molecular electronics, a realm once considered science fiction, could be heading for our computers and devices sooner than thought. A new report on the technology roadmap of the chip industry finds a growing confidence in new nanotechnology, and forecasts that the transition to the post-silicon era could happen by 2015. The development of nanoswitches has already reached a point where it will be possible to manufacture them reliably at low cost. Intels goal over the next decade is to build chips that hold more than one trillion switches."

Ipods have Nano Technology

I thought the ipods already had this technology!

That's much later than I thought...

Everything seems like it's "nanotech this" "nanotech that" these days... It seems like "nano" stuff in microchips should already be here. Marketspeak = the big let down.

-Jesse

Re:Because "micro" was overused in

That's the tech I'll use in my robot... my girl robot.

Heat

The transition to new nanotechnology techniques could occur around 2015, when chip makers will have exhausted their ability to shrink the wires and switches that make up the modern processors and memory storage devices at the heart of the computer, communications and consumer electronics industries.

Nevermind the growing heat concern. Who was it that said soon microchips will be hotter than the surface of the sun if they keep getting faster at the same rate they are now?

Re:Heat

> Who was it that said soon microchips will be hotter than the surface of the sun if they keep getting faster at the same rate they are now?

1) James Clerk Maxwell [wikipedia.org]
2) Max Plank [wikipedia.org]
3) Gordon Moore [wikipedia.org]
4) All of the above ;-)

Re:Heat

Nevermind the growing heat concern. Who was it that said soon microchips will be hotter than the surface of the sun if they keep getting faster at the same rate they are now?

That's assuming that power consumption continues to increase inside the silicon chip. With these switches, using different materials all together, power consumption is supposed to be greatly reduced. What you're doing is similar to comparing a statement made about vacum tubes to transistors.

Re:Heat

What you're doing is similar to comparing a statement made about vacum tubes to transistors.

Actually no, I was stating one more reason that wasn't previously mentioned as to why this nanotech is needed. You misunderstood my point.

Re:Heat

Computing is going all low-power and parallel. Check out Intel's Platform 2015. [intel.com]

That being the case

Let me be the first to coin the term "picotechnology". I don't know anything about it except that it will be sub-molecular electronics.

Shouldn't they be called

nanochips?

Hooptie

This just in...

... flying cars by 1990! Also in 2001 we will be sending a mission to Jupiter with a space ship run by a super-intelligent computer.

I'll believe it when I see it. These tech predictions rarely seem to happen when people think.

Re:This just in...

But you see nano tech will make flying cars, and Duke Nukem Forever possible!

Re:Conveniently ignoring...

...all the techs that are in widespread use and far superior to those that were predicted in Sci-Fi. You know, like the collection you're using right now to read this.

Right!!!! You might think /. is far superior to a space ship with warp drive and a hot

Expect a transitional phase...

The transition to new nanotechnology techniques could occur around 2015, when chip makers will have exhausted their ability to shrink the wires and switches

Shrinking the wires can ALREADY be done with carbon nanotubes. Already some of them are being used for heat dissipation in audio chips.

So, IMHO, it'll be more or less like this:

1) Carbon nanotubes will replace copper wires in CPU's, disminishing the required operational voltage and current leakage.

2) "Conventional" technologies used today (like multigate transistors) will be optimized for nanotube wires.

3) The first nanotube transistors will appear a couple of years after 2) is developed.

4) As this technology is improved, one day we'll be able to use spintronic or optical transistors.

Somewhere in the middle of these, 3D-layered chips and massively-parallel computing will be developed. Oh yes, don't forget about the system-in-a-chip.

A (redudant - read my past posts on the subject) glimpse into the future: In 20 or 30 years our computers will be smaller than a Nintendo gamecube. No floppy disks, just flash (or magnetic?) memory cards and solid-state HDs. PCI bus will be cast into oblivion, when the new add-on cards fit in a PS2 memory stick. Small future, indeed.

Re:Expect a transitional phase...

A (redudant - read my past posts on the subject) glimpse into the future: In 20 or 30 years our computers will be smaller than a Nintendo gamecube. No floppy disks, just flash (or magnetic?) memory cards and solid-state HDs. PCI bus will be cast into oblivion, when the new add-on cards fit in a PS2 memory stick. Small future, indeed.

I predict that a computer smaller than a Nintendo Gamecube will be released into the public conciousness on January 2005 in the form of the Apple Mac mini. They are pretty neat too. I think there are older examples in embedded computers as well as miniITX boards.

Why predict the use of removable memory cards? Why not also say those are considered offensive because of a global wireless network?

The only reason full size desktops and midtowers are commonly available is cost, flexibility and performance, not many are willing to trade those off.

Ugh, you got your

... nano in my wafer. You got your wafer in my nano.

Intels goal over the next decade is to build chips that hold more than one trillion switches.

Floating point errors performed at the speed of light!

"Nanotech in Microchips by 2015"

And there was me thinking that microchips manufactured on the 65nm scale was nanotech.

I remember when

computers were so big, we'd call them desktops.

Your career will be over...

Seeing as how short most careers in IT are most of the readers here will have have finished their career in computers by the time this happens.

Too small....

As it is now, I 'lose' my Thinkpad (in the couch cushions, under a coffee table book, etc.) about once a week. I'd hate to think of a system that I lose in folds of my flesh.

Thank you for your submission

THANK YOU for your submission of a new
[x] nanostructure
[ ] laser
[x] transistor
using
[x] large molecules
[ ] DNA strands
[ ] silicon
This is a bad idea, because
[ ] a 3-D structure is difficult to heat-sink
[x] scientists likely never will produce a transistor this way
[x] silicon has unique properties that cannot be matched
[ ] this is a case of outright fraud
The problem however is not to make circuits
[ ] out of lasers
[ ] 3-D
[x] from anything but silicon
[ ] self ordered
But the problem is to make them
[x] reliably
[x] at low cost
[x] faster
Further this article was published in
[ ] Science
[ ] New Scientist
[x] NYT
[ ] Science News
which is primarily a publicity-seeking instrument, and not a great peer-reviewed journal of physics.
I can say this because I have a
[ ] BS
[ ] MS
[x] PhD
in
[x] Physics
[ ] Electrical Engineering

Re:Is it worth learning about in a small college?

First, learn how to design circuits in general. It won't matter what the underlying technology is after that, you can learn to use any of them. The hard part is learning how to design them in the first place. I took a class on how to design silicon chip

Re:So far, it looks like a pipe dream to me.

Dude! I wish I had the Time to Mod my PC to look like that. Get some USB Gadges [thinkgeek.com] An old teletype case mixed with a tractor lazer printer, and a keyboard. A 32 Inch LCD screen in an Old 50s TV case, with some good speakers in it. Joysticks, some Switchs and

Re:Still waiting!!

50% of all cars were to fly by 1990.

According to Flying Car Magazine (1992, vol 12, pp 34-38), the figure of 50% was actually already reached in 1987. Furthermore, the last ground vehicle to be produced was a special 'Grand Finale' edition of the Volkswagen Beetle in 1996. So what are you complaining about?
Oh.... I get it, you're from the lo-tech enclave set up by our Voryonite Overlords - that small patch of land back on planet Earth where people have been kept oblivious of the arrival of our Lords and left to develop on their own, the aim being to convince even the last sceptic that the arrival of our Lords has been a Good Thing (tm).
How cute, so you've got internet now. Do you also access it through neuralites or are you still using external equipment? I'm sorry, I'm a little out of touch - I haven't watched the OldWay Feed since I was very little... anyway, must run, a Triunian Starhopper has just docked, I need to fix some of their computer systems. A starport, even a remote one like Venus V, is a great place to be when you're a nerd :)
See ya! And do drop by once you develop space flights, I'll get you really good deals on antimatter!

Re:Nanotubes replacing Silicon microprocessors

First off, there is exactly 0 reason to switch from QWERT to Dvorak. The only proof that Dvorak is faster is from..oh what was that guys name? hmm oh yeah, Dvorak.

QWERTY has nothing to do with speed, and everything to do with the letter positioning in the