World's Smallest Superconductor Discovered 72
arcticstoat writes "One of the barriers to the development of nanoscale electronics has potentially been eliminated, as scientists have discovered the world's smallest superconductor. Made up of four pairs of molecules, and measuring just 0.87nm, the superconductor could potentially be used as a nanoscale interconnect in electronic devices, but without the heat and power dissipation problems associated with standard metal conductors."
What temperature does this work at though?! (Score:4, Insightful)
This doesn't do us a lot of good in most applications if we have to cool our processors with liquid nitrogen.
Re:What temperature does this work at though?! (Score:5, Informative)
(To clarify, superconductors do NOT work at room temperature -- the best ones (and the only ones we can really consider in practical applications) require cooling with something like liquid nitrogen. Moreover, this molecule is designed for size, rather than temperature, so I wonder if they had to compromise on how low you have to cool it. The lower temperature superconductors require liquid helium cooling, which goes into ridiculously cold territory.)
The article does not seem to indicate the temperature that it works at.
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To clarify, superconductors do NOT YET work at room temperature
FTFY.
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Any physicist will tell you that super-conduction depends on keeping atoms in a specific tight arrangement. At room temperature, there is too much movement of atoms and space between them even in crystalline structures to allow for superconductivity. Superconductivity is a state of matter. There are no super-conducting gasses or liquids and there will very likely never be any super-conducting solids at room temp
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"So, to clarify... superconductors will NEVER work at room temperature... at least according to the laws of physics as we understand them."
Why not? At 133K atoms move around quite a lot, so there might not be a strict requirement for temperature.
In fact, superconductivity-like phenomena (delocalized electrons in aromatic hydrocarbons, for example) are observed in some molecules for up to 500C (yes, that's about 700K).
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Cut your arrogance. You sound like a physician.
To clarify, the superconductors we know do NOT work at room temperature yet
There, fixed that for ya.
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Any physicist will tell you that super-conduction depends on keeping atoms in a specific tight arrangement. At room temperature, there is too much movement of atoms and space between them even in crystalline structures to allow for superconductivity. Superconductivity is a state of matter. There are no super-conducting gasses or liquids (and there never will be!) and there will v
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It's not arrogance to say that superconductors will NEVER work at room temperature... at least according to the laws of physics as we understand them.
What's the theoretical upper limit?
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Re:What temperature does this work at though?! (Score:5, Funny)
This doesn't do us a lot of good in most applications if we have to cool our processors with liquid nitrogen.
Except that most slashdotters already cool their systems with liquid nitrogen, or would love the excuse to make it so.
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Re:What temperature does this work at though?! (Score:4, Insightful)
I chill my system using a picture of my ex-wife glaring into the camera. Nothing beats that.
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You married a woman who was not hot? Hand in your geek card at once!
My first question as well... (Score:2)
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http://www.blendtec.com/willitblend/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=airsoftgun
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While the wire interconnects would not dissipate any power as heat, the transistors would continue to do so. This heat would warm the surrounding superconductors, meaning additional cooling. The vast majority of the heat generated by the processor comes from the transistors, the only ways to reduce it are to reduce the voltage, on-resistance, frequency, or capacitance, or to increase the off-resistance.
So, we still need to find a transistor with nearly 0 on-resistance and nearly infinite off-resistance b
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This is an insightful comment. Typically a CPU on a typical desktop computer operates at temperatures that are comparable to the heating element of a kitchen stove top. The reason for this is largely due to inefficiencies and the fact that current materials can operate at that temperature, so it isn't that big of a deal.
Most of the earlier computers from the 1970's and earlier (not the micros, but the mini computers and mainframes) all required some sort of significant environmental control system, includ
Re:What temperature does this work at though?! (Score:5, Informative)
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SI units are capitalized when the name of the unit is derived from the name of a person.
source [nist.gov]
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I didn't know the Library of Congress was named after someone? Was there an ancient librarian named Mr. Congress?
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That’s not what’s important. What’s important, is that “k” stands for the prefix “kilo”. and 8 kilo can only make sense in countries that colloquially use it for “kilogram”.
Same problem as “640 Kelvin-Bytes ought to be enough for anybody.” ^^
Only Qalculate!, interpreting “MB” as “Megabarns” by default, can beat that!
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Qualculate! being a programme that provides some services to the housing sales industry?
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I will gladly spend energy on the refrigeration so that the processor won't use so much!
The system works against me though - the processor dissipates massive amounts of energy that requires more energy to remove quickly with cooling.
So what is more efficient in terms of energy consumption? A massive library that millions of people have contributed to over the eons, culminating in all the knowledge that I could ever want, and therefore any computation I need is achieved by a look-up? Or a supercomputer with
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The important thing here is that we found one physically smaller than anything else. Superconductors are also a pretty Big Deal - their unique properties are very handy in certain applications.
Which is the point: it kicks open the doors of "...We just need something smaller". The consumer market is where stuff like this gets eventually. The applications for industry, development, and who knows what else could be far and wide.
Your cyni
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"Offtopic"? I should've known /. would be full of Gargamel fans.
World's smallest superconductor walks into a bar.. (Score:5, Funny)
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Critical temperature (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Critical temperature (Score:5, Funny)
"if I dunked my cat in liquid helium, it would probably begin to superconduct."
Icanhazsooperkundukter?
(sorry)
Re:Critical temperature (Score:5, Funny)
To quote (more or less) one of my lab mates "if I dunked my cat in liquid helium, it would probably begin to superconduct."
"Probably"? So the cat might superconduct, and it might not. Sort of a Shrödinger's superconductor? Is that what you're getting at?
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think of the effect if you then tied a piece of buttered toast to the back of the cat and tossed it.
The worlds first perpetual motion motion. a super conducting frozen, cat trying to land on it's feet while toast tries to land butter side down.
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think of the effect if you then tied a piece of buttered toast to the back of the cat and tossed it.
The worlds first perpetual motion motion. a super conducting frozen, cat trying to land on it's feet while toast tries to land butter side down.
...and as a bonus you get an anti-gravity system.
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...and as a bonus you get an anti-gravity system.
Spinning-cat-powered-personal-flying-machines for everyone!
Stock responses (Score:2)
Think of the effect if you then tied a piece of buttered toast to the back of the cat and tossed it.
...superconducting, frozen buttered toast, of course.
Hey! HEY! I'm reporting you to both the American and Royal Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Toast!
Lisa! In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!
Re:Critical temperature (Score:5, Interesting)
First, this is not a type II. It's not a BCS superconductor at all.
In fact, given that they do not show Meissner effect, one wonders how they conclude it is a superconductor. Heck, the paper does not even show resistance - just a density of states which is depressed at Fermi level. That could be due to anything (like a CDW). This paper seems like it is full of shit until proven otherwise. I would not pass it if I were the reviewer.
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HEP cats... er, carts (Score:2)
That would also make him one cool cat.
Argonne National Laboratory has an open house every several years. In the High Energy Physics (HEP) building, I spotted an empty cart with "HEP" stenciled on it. Yes, I have a picture of it. It wasn't a cool cat, or even a hep cat. It was a HEP cart. Close enough for jazz as far as I'm concerned.
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Yes, but would it still work afterwards?
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Re:Why does supercooling lead to superconductivity (Score:1, Offtopic)
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Wow, are we even reading the same article? The article is about superCONDUCTORS not superCOMPUTORS. Nobody said anything at all about transistors.
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Re:Why does supercooling lead to superconductivity (Score:4, Informative)
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Too short a distance with an impossible junction (Score:1)
The reason such small things aren't normally touted as "superconducting" is because the contact resistance with something so small becomes so amazingly large that the whole reason of having a superconductor is destroyed. This is precisely why the superconducting regimes of graphene and nanotubes aren't practical: form
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superconductor placed on a silver substrate (Score:4, Interesting)
The superconductor is a type of organic salt placed on a silver substrate
I wonder how they test for superconductivity when placing this tiny conductor on a substrate of massive silver, known as the best conductor there is, excluding superconductors.
Psh. (Score:1, Insightful)
Huzzah! (Score:1)
Also, congrats to Hla and his group.
not important at nanoscale (Score:1)