New Scientist has an article up discussing the possibility that tiny tubes of carbon, crafted into the shape of a Y, could revolutionise the computer industry.
Prab Bandaru and colleagues at the University of California in San Diego, and Apparao Rao, of Clemson Univeristy in South Carolina added iron-titanium particles to a standard carbon nanotube to spur the growth of an extra nanotube branch attached to the main stem. The overall structure assumed a Y-shape and the catalyst particles were absorbed into the tubes at the branching point.
Experiments then showed that applying a voltage to the stem of the Y precisely controls the flow of electrons through the other two branches. The switching capacity of these nanostructures is, in comparable to that of today’s silicon transistors.
Source: New Scientist
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