Carbon nanotubes to revolutionize computers

LONDON, UK: Computers are set for a radical makeover with carbon nanotubes replacing silicon transistors in 10 years.

Johannes Svensson, physicist from the University of Gothenburg, is working on the manufacture and use of carbon nanotubes, on which he has based his doctoral thesis.

"I don't believe it will be cheaper to build transistors from another material than silicon, but carbon nanotubes can be used to produce smaller and faster components, consuming less energy," says Svensson.

The amazing development in computer power that has taken place after the invention of the integrated circuit in the 1950s has been made possible by the transistor, which is the most important component of all processors, becoming ever-faster.

The most common semiconductor material in transistors is silicon, since it is cheap and easy to process. But silicon has its limitations.

By exchanging the silicon in the channel for a carbon nanotube, transistors can be made both smaller and faster than existing versions, a Gothenburg release said.

A carbon nanotube is a molecule in form of a hollow cylinder with a diameter of around a nanometer (roughly 1/50,000 of the width of a human hair) which consists of pure carbon.

Some carbon nanotubes are semiconducting, and this means they can be used in transistors, although there are several problems that must be solved before they can be connected together to form large circuits.