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Tiny wires could usher new computer era

WASHINGTON, Jan 5, 2012 (AFP) - Scientists said Thursday they have designed  tiny wires, 10,000 times thinner than a human hair but with the same electrical capacity as copper, in a major step toward building smaller, more potent computers.

The advance, described in the US journal Science, shows for the first time that wires one atom tall and four atoms wide can carry a charge as well as conventional wires.

A professor observes a quantum transistor at Sydney`s University of New South Wales in 2010.(AFP)
A professor observes a quantum transistor at Sydney`s University of New South Wales in 2010.(AFP)


That could lead to even tinier electronic devices in the future as well as new steps toward quantum computing, an industry still in its infancy which would create powerful computers that could sift through massive amounts of data faster than current digital computers which use binary code.

"Driven by the semiconductor industry, computer chip components continuously shrink in size allowing ever smaller and more powerful computers," said researcher Michelle Simmons of the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia.

"We are on the threshold of making transistors out of individual atoms. But to build a practical quantum computer we have recognized that the interconnecting wiring and circuitry also needs to shrink to the atomic scale."

Scientists were able to forge atom-sized wires in silicon using a technique called scanning tunneling microscopy, whereby they placed chains of phosphorus atoms within a silicon crystal.

"This technique not only allows us to image individual atoms but also to manipulate them and place them in position," said researcher Bent Weber, the lead author of the study.

The nano-wires they built this way ranged from 1.5 to 11 nanometers thick.

But even though the circuits were smaller, scientists observed no increased difficulty in coaxing an electric charge through them -- what has previously been considered a major obstacle to quantum computing.

In an accompanying Perspective article, David Ferry of the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University called the findings "good news for the semiconductor industry."

 

<한글기사>

머리카락보다 1만배 가는 전선 발견!



머리카락보다 1만배 가늘지만 구리와 똑같은 전기적 특성을 가진 아주 가는 선이 개발됐다.

미국 과학전문지 사이언스는 5일(현지시간) 이같은 내용을 공개하고 크기는 작아지지만 더욱 강력한 컴퓨터를 만들 길이 열렸다고 전했다.

이 선은 크기가 높이는 원자 하나, 폭은 원자 4개 정도며 기존의 선들과 마찬가 지로 전하(電荷·charge)를 운반할 수 있다.

이에 따라 이번 연구는 앞으로 더욱 강력한 컴퓨터를 만들 수 있는 양자계산(Quantum computing)의 새로운 단계뿐만 아니라 더 작은 전자장치의 개발로 이끌 것으로 전망된다.

호주 뉴사우스웨일스대학의 연구자인 미셸 시몬스는 "반도체 업계의 노력으로 컴퓨터 칩 부품들 크기는 계속 줄어 더 작지만 능력은 뛰어난 컴퓨터를 만들 수 있었다"며 "바야흐로 개별 원자들로부터 트랜지스터를 만들 수 있는 단계에 오게 됐다 "고 말했다.

미국 애리조나 주립대 대학원의 데이비드 페리는 이번 개발을 전망하는 글에서 "반도체 산업을 위해 좋은 뉴스"라고 평가했다.

 

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