This Week in Nanotech 02.02.04 - 02.09.04
Aryavarta Kumar
T H I S W E E K I N N A N O T E C H
NanoScience and NanoBusiness News from NanoApex
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NANOSCIENCE NEWS
National Nanotechnology Initiative Workshop on Nano-electronics,
-photonics, and -magnetics
A National Nanotechnology Initiative Interagency Workshop on
Nano-electronics, -photonics, and -magnetics, will be held Feb. 11-13,
2004, at the Holiday Inn Arlington at Ballston, Arlington, VA. Media
are invited to attend this workshop where leading scientists and
engineers from government, academia and industry will exchange
information, research findings and ideas toward identifying needs and
opportunities for applications of nanostructured materials and
devices. A draft agenda is available.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4255
Purdue researchers create device that detects mass of a single virus
particle
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Researchers at Purdue University [profile] have
developed a miniature device sensitive enough to detect a single virus
particle, an advancement that could have many applications, including
environmental-health monitoring and homeland security. The device is a
tiny "cantilever," a diving board-like beam of silicon that naturally
vibrates at a specific frequency. When a virus particle weighing about
one-trillionth as much as a grain of rice lands on the cantilever, it
vibrates at a different frequency, which was measured by the Purdue
researchers.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4254
Optoelectronic technique controls fluid flow in microdevices
Improvements in optoelectronics miniaturization underpin a novel
technique that uses light to control the flow of nano-size volumes of
fluids over solid surfaces. This has set the stage for an advanced
line of optically driven microfluidic devices capable of transferring
small droplets of fluids in a reprogrammable way. This innovative
optical technique uses lasers, or optical systems comparable to those
in liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors, to generate complex
patterns of differing light concentrations on a flat substrate.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4253
The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schn - transcript
NARRATOR (JACK FORTUNE): This is the story of the man behind the most
remarkable discovery. His breakthrough seemed so revolutionary it
could have created an extraordinary new world. A world where disease
could be destroyed before the first symptoms appear. Where nothing
would be beyond the boundaries of human knowledge. But others thought
it could also be a world where the darkest evil could be unleashed.
Where microscopic machines would link up to destroy us all.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4252
Weighed in the nanoscale
They're coming big time. Heavyweight reports with nanotechnology in
their titles are hitting our bookshelves with increasing frequency.
Since the last Green Futures article on this little understood
technology of the seriously small [GF34], we've a pile of studies by
everyone from the ETC Group and Greenpeace to the Economic and Social
Research Council and the Better Regulation Taskforce. The headline
Grey goo threat to world' has adorned the front page of a Sunday
newspaper, and the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering have
set up a working group on the issue, commissioned by the UK
government.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4251
Nanotech researchers see the light
Researchers in the Mazur group at Harvard [profile] have found a way
to make nanofibres only 50nm thick; thinner than the wavelengths of
light they carry. Made from silica, the nanofibres transmit the light
by acting as a guide for it to flow around, rather than through; and
because they can be made smooth and of uniform diameter, the light
remains coherent as it travels.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4250
Virtual Nanotech
Modeling materials one atom at a time
It's hard enough to thread a needle. Imagine trying to manipulate
threads and needles miniaturized to one-millionth the normal size.
Now, you're thinking like the emerging group of nanotechnologists
whose growing dexterity at fashioning new materials and devices may
eventually improve every arena of technology, from aerospace to drug
development. While many researchers focus on developing tools for
working on nanoscale materials, others are pursuing a virtual pathway
toward nanotechnology applications. As ever-more powerful computers
have become ever more affordable, computational nanoscientists can
readily simulate materials atom by atom.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4249
Industries await dawning of nanotechnology age
"It will be a ubiquitous technology," said George Stephanopoulos,
professor of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He echoes other nanotech supporters who say industrial
countries are already sliding toward its use in every aspect of
manufacturing. But with such a huge gap between what is and what might
be, it remains a difficult realm for investors, who cannot yet be
confident that the global market will reach $1 trillion by 2015, as
the U.S. government predicts.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4248
Nano-scientist's dark secret
One of the most brilliant scientific researchers of recent years
stands accused of committing an elaborate scientific fraud, fooling
many eminent experts.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4247
Is this the end of the world?
Many would have trouble spelling nanotechnology, let alone defining
it. But, as Richard Jones and Stephen Wood write, it is here and it is
going to be driving the economy well into the 21st century.
Nanotechnology is currently thought by many to be the innovation that
will drive the economy and the stock market for the next 50 years,
changing all aspects of life for the better. But opponents foresee
dire consequences environmental degradation, a widening of the gulf
between the rich and the poor, even the eventual extinction of the
human race.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4246
Nanotechnology Information Devices Workshop
A workshop looking at Nanotechnology Information Devices (NID) will
take place at the National Centre for Scientific Research
"Demokritos"(1) in Athens (Greece) from 04 to 06 February 2004. During
the 13th NID workshop, a joint "Greek/PHANTOMS" Symposium on
Nanotechnology will be held in order to provide a research overview
currently performed on this country.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4245
NSF to invest heavily in nanotechnology
The National Science Foundation is seeking $305 million to fund
research into nanotechnology, which is the research and development of
technologies at the atomic, molecular and macromolecular level. NSF
Director Rita Colwell said yesterday the 2005 budget request
represents a 20 percent increase over fiscal 2004 levels and is the
foundation's "largest priority area investment."
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4244
U. New Mexico plans for system upgrade
University of New Mexico [profile] and the entire state of New Mexico
will soon be on the cutting edge of computer technology if one group
of University staff members has its way. Bill Adkins, director of
Computer and Information Resources and Technology, said the University
is looking to take advantage of the collapse of the telecommunications
industry two years ago by purchasing a stockpile of reduced-price
fiber optics cable. UNM would use that fiber optic cable to link the
state to one network to collaborate on research, Adkins said.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4243
Nanotechnology center plans in the works at U. Massachusetts
Charlena Seymour, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic
affairs, announced that the University of Massachusetts Amherst
[profile] plans to establish a nanotechnology research and development
center to be called MassNanoTech. MassNanoTech will act as an umbrella
center to coordinate nanoscience research efforts currently conducted
in many different university departments, including the Polymer
Science, Engineering, Physics and Chemistry departments.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4242
Scientists excited by new palladium-based nanotubes
Scientists in Germany say they have developed a new type of nanotube
that uses palladium and other precious metals to exhibit a new range
of properties. Nanotechnologists at Weizmann Institute [profile] say
they have combined palladium, gold, silver and other nanoparticles to
formulate a new type of nanotube.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4241
Nanotechnology Now announces Best of 2003 Awards
Nanotechnology Now, the leading nanotechnology news and information
site, announces the Best of 2003 - Nanotechnology Awards. For the past
six years the team at Nanotechnology Now has tracked the thousands of
websites, individuals, businesses, and government and educational
institutions that exist in the nanospace.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4240
Nanotubes Tied to Silicon Circuit
Many research teams are working to make electronics that include
carbon nanotubesrolled-up sheets of carbon atoms that have useful
electrical properties and that can be as narrow as the span of four
hydrogen atoms. Researchers from the University of California at
Berkeley [profile] and Stanford University [profile] have fabricated a
circuit that combines carbon nanotube transistors and traditional
silicon transistors on one computer chip. Connecting minuscule
nanotube transistors to traditional silicon transistors enables the
atomic-scale electronics to communicate with existing electronic
equipment.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4239
Carbon Nanotube Gel
Carbon nanotube gel, the first example of a liquid crystalline
material consisting of single-walled nanotubes, has been made by
physicists at the University of Pennsylvania. Basically the gel is a
mass of half-micron long nanotubes, aligned like little logs along a
single direction, in a polymer matrix. The gel exhibits hallmark
properties of a nematic liquid crystal (in which rod shaped molecules
are aligned) including optical anisotropy (birefringence) and
topological defects.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4238
Experts work to advance nanotech
The smaller things get, the less the normal rules apply. That's among
the reasons researchers who are able to manipulate the smallest
building blocks of nature are struggling to mass-produce some of the
intriguing machines and materials they have constructed from
individual atoms.
http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4237
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NANOBUSINESS NEWS
UDRI passes $1 billion mark
DAYTON -- Say the word "nanomaterials" to most people, and you're
likely to get blank stares. Tell them about a car paint that will keep
them from getting shocked during the winter, and you've got potential
customers on your hands. University of Dayton [profile]
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2295
AKN part of group raising US$20mil for Nanochip
AKN Technology Bhd is joining software giant Microsoft Corp, US
venture capitalists JK&B and New Enterprise Associates, and flash
digital media manufacturer Lexar Media Inc to raise more than US$20mil
in mid-2004 for Nanochip Inc [profile], a US-based company involved in
the research and development of micro-electro-mechanical-systems
(MEMS) based data storage device used in the application of
nanotechnology.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2294
Innovative Technology Company Tripples Turnover
Berlin (February 3, 2004) - The Berlin-based technology company
Capsulution NanoScience AG [profile] can look back onto a very
successful year after it tripled turnovers during the second half of
2003. According to a preliminary balance at the end of the second half
of last year the Company was able to generate operational profits of
some 45,000 euros compared with operational losses of some 585,000
euros during the first half of 2003. Following the company's shake-up
that was started last summer the overall performance during the
financial year 2003 has been considerably better than expected.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2293
Rendell Administration Announces May 2004 Nanotechnology Conference
HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- On behalf of Pennsylvania
Governor Edward G. Rendell, Community and Economic Development
Secretary Dennis Yablonsky today announced that "The Business of Nano:
Pennsylvania Nanotechnology Conference 2004" will be held May 25-26 at
the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2292
The Nano-Ostrich Approach Doesn't Work
Ostriches don't really bury their heads in the sand when confronted
with danger. People, however, sometimes do. Certainly that seems to be
what's happening with the nanotechnology industry. Last week, I wrote
about prospects for nanotechnology, and in particular about what I saw
as the nanotechnology business community's rather shortsighted efforts
to dampen public debate on the subject.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2291
Top chip makers tout nanotechnology
Nanotechnology will play a key role in next-generation silicon, and
may help extend CMOS scaling down into the single-digit nanometer
range, according to researchers at a DesignCon technology forum here.
But technologies like carbon nanotubes, nanowires and single-electron
transistors still aren't ready for prime time, they noted.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2290
Biophan Technologies Secures Commitment for Additional Funding
Rochester, NY February 6, 2004 Biophan Technologies, Inc. [profile],
an innovator, developer and marketer of MRI-related and other advanced
biomedical technology, announced today that it has executed a new
agreement with SBI-Brightline that provides, at the Company's
election, up to $25 million in additional capital at an average price
of approximately $1.41 per share. This round of financing will further
enable the Company to pursue its previously announced strategic
initiatives which include expansion of its patent portfolio,
acceleration of marketing programs, and potential strategic
acquisitions. The capital provided by this financing will also help
the Company move toward satisfying the capital requirements for
listing on a national securities exchange.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2289
Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. Announces Issue of Key Patent
Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. (CNI)
-- Coverage includes end-derivatives of carbon nanotubes
-- Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. now has 16 issued or allowed patents
relative to carbon nanotubes
Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. (CNI) [profile] announced today the issue
of a key patent that is central to the development of real-world
applications of nanotechnology. This patented technology opens a wide
world of opportunity to link carbon nanotubes to each other and to
other species and substrates, greatly enhancing the potential of
carbon nanotubes and broadly expanding their range of end uses. This
technology is part of the intellectual property developed by
Nobel-Prizewinning chemist Dr. Richard Smalley and was licensed
exclusively to CNI from Rice University in 2001.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2288
Altair Nanotechnologies Announces New Preclinical Testing For
RenaZorb
Company To File IND Drug Application For RenaZorb, Its Drug Candidate
For Phosphate Control In Kidney Dialysis Patients
RENO, NV February 5, 2004 Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. [profile],
a developer and manufacturer of innovative nanomaterial products,
announced that it is planning to conduct new preclinical testing of
its drug candidate, RenaZorb. The test will use an animal model
directly comparing RenaZorb with existing and proposed drugs for
phosphate control in patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)
undergoing dialysis. The testing is expected to be initiated within 30
to 45 days. The company also announced that it plans to file an IND
(Investigational New Drug) application with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2287
Konarka Technologies Demonstrates New Levels of Efficiency in Flexible
Lowell, MA -- February 4, 2004 -- Konarka Technologies, Inc.
[profile], an innovator in developing and manufacturing breakthrough
products that convert light to energy, announced that it has developed
prototypes of its photovoltaic cells that have achieved more than
seven percent efficiency. This reinforces Konarka's leadership
position in developing a new generation of solar cells for commercial
applications.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2286
New Appointments to JPK Instruments AG's Supervisory Board
Berlin (February 4, 2004) - Last year the Berlin-based
nanobiotechnology application specialist JPK Instruments AG [profile]
has appointed Dr. Andreas Eckert as the new Chairman of its Board of
Supervisors. Dr. Eckert is Chief Executive of public-traded Eckert &
Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG, Berlin, which was founded in
1997. He is also the co-founder of numerous technology companies in
Germany and abroad.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2285
Nanophase to present at Particles 2004
Romeoville, IL, February 3, 2004 Nanophase Technologies Corporation
[profile], a technology leader in nanomaterials and nanoengineered
products, will present at the Particles 2004 international conference
March 6-9. Particles 2004 is an interdisciplinary international
conference focused on particle formation, particle characterization,
and particle-based materials synthesis. Application areas span
chemical analysis, imaging, printing, pharmaceuticals, coatings,
membranes, filters, composites, catalysts, electronics, and optics.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2284
Keithley Instruments, Inc. to Present at the Roth Capital Partners
16th Annual Growth Stock Conference
CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2004--Keithley Instruments, Inc.
[profile],a leader in solutions for emerging measurement needs, today
announced that Mark A. Hoersten, Vice President, Business Management,
and Mark J. Plush, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will be
presenting at the Roth Capital Partners 16th Annual Growth Stock
Conference taking place at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa
in Dana Point, California, on Tuesday, February 17, 2004, at 3 p.m.
PT.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2283
Keithley Instruments Announces Nanotech Partnership with the
Suny-Albany NanoTech Center
ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Keithley Instruments,
Inc. [profile], a leader in solutions for emerging measurement needs,
today announced that it is partnering with the Albany NanoTech Center
at the University at Albany-State University of New York (SUNY) to
share research information and work together to further the
understanding of nanotechnology and optoelectronics technologies.
Keithley will provide the Albany NanoTech Center with a
state-of-the-art semiconductor device characterization system.
Keithley technology, known for its unique capabilities in extremely
precise, low-level electrical measurements, is particularly well
suited for making measurements on nanoscale devices.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2282
Kionix Closes $28.5 Million Financing Round
ITHACA, N.Y., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Kionix, Inc. [profile], a
leading, worldwide supplier of advanced MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical
Systems) products, is pleased to announce the closing of a $28.5
million financing round. Successfully completing a major financing
round in the difficult investment climate of the past year is a
reflection of the Company's past success, strong demand for its
products, and public-private partnerships in economic development.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2281
TEDCO highlights booming nanotech
Maryland technology development leaders put nanotechnology -- the
engineering of materials at the atomic and molecular levels -- on
center stage Tuesday. The Maryland Technology Development Corp.
highlighted research done at Adelphi's Army Research Laboratory in its
latest showcase, designed to forge partnerships between companies,
entrepreneurs and federal government scientists.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2280
US GLOBAL NANOSPACE, INC. INVESTOR UPDATE
CARSON CITY, NV-Feb. 3, 2004 -- US Global Nanospace, Inc. [profile]
today released the following investor update.
A third party recently published misrepresentations regarding US
Global Nanospace in what we consider to be a malicious effort to
temporarily discredit our company for short-term financial gain. We
believe this effort was perpetrated by a coordinated group comprised
of a website that circulates negative information about publicly
traded companies to its paying subscribers in advance of releasing the
information publicly and certain internet chat board posters. We have
contacted and requested assistance from applicable law enforcement and
government agencies to bring the perpetrators to justice and have
provided information for them to do this. US Global is among many
other corporate victims that these people have attacked and we are now
preparing to begin a dialogue with these companies to form a coalition
against such further attacks.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2279
PRESIDENT THINKS A BILLION OF NANO, BUT A BIT LESS THAN ALLOWED BY LAW
President Bush has proposed nearly $1 billion in funding for the
federal government's nanotechnology initiative under his fiscal year
2005 budget unveiled Monday. If Congress approves the request, the
$982 million in proposed funding for federal nanotechnology
initiatives would mark a 2 percent increase over funding for fiscal
year 2004.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2278
EVOLVED NANOMATERIAL SCIENCES SEPARATES THE BAD FROM THE GOOD
While most nanotech companies attempt to build things up from the
bottom, Evolved Nanomaterial Sciences Inc. [profile] is approaching
the nanoscale from the opposite end. This three-person spinout from
Tufts University was founded on the belief that there is a lucrative
business in breaking things down.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2277
POLYCHROMIX, INC RAISES U.S. $8.0M SERIES-B PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Siemens Venture Capital joins investment syndicate led by Seed Capital
Partners and Vanguard Ventures to increase the company's manufacturing
capacity and accelerate development of innovative wavelength
management solutions based on its core diffractive-MEMS technology
Woburn, MA, February 2, 2004 Polychromix, Inc. [profile], a
developer of advanced wavelength management solutions for optical
networking, today announced it has attracted in excess of eight
million dollars in its Series B financing. New investor, Siemens
Venture Capital, joined Seed Capital Partners (Softbank) and Vanguard
Ventures in bringing the total investment in Polychromix to greater
than U.S. $15 million. Additional venture capital investors in this
round included Navigator Technology Ventures and Pyramid Technology
Ventures.
http://www.nanoinvestornews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2276
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John Larkin
On 9 Feb 2004 17:09:40 GMT, ar...@nanoapex.com (Aryavarta Kumar) wrote:
>
>The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schn - transcript
>NARRATOR (JACK FORTUNE): This is the story of the man behind the most
>remarkable discovery. His breakthrough seemed so revolutionary it
>could have created an extraordinary new world. A world where disease
>could be destroyed before the first symptoms appear. Where nothing
>would be beyond the boundaries of human knowledge. But others thought
>it could also be a world where the darkest evil could be unleashed.
>Where microscopic machines would link up to destroy us all.
>http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4252
>
The referenced transcript open a very interesting issue:
====================
Prof MICHIO KAKU: We could be facing economic stagnation because
computers are simply not capable of evolving to the next step if they
are based on silicone. As power levels off the wealth of nations, the
productivity of workers, the prosperity of societies could be
endangered because of the stagnation of computer power.
NARRATOR: A whole engine of our economic growth could stall. No more
growth means no more profits. We could be plunged in to a depression.
This is the fear implied by Moores Law. Today billions are spent
trying to squeeze more out of silicone, but the worry is that we will
eventually get to the stage where we can push it no further. Some
think it is a problem in desperate need of a solution.
==================
Fear? Desperate? Depression? Strong words.
Of course, silicon (not "silicone") LSI will hit the wall fairly soon.
Current bleeding-edge processors, memory, and ASICs are fabbed with 90
nm minimum features and clock around 4 GHz. If we assume,
conservatively, that silicon technology will bottom out at, say, 30 nm
and 15 GHz, in maybe 2015 or so, will civilization in fact collapse?
CMOS chips already have a billion transistors, and designs (except
memory) are becoming limited by their sheer logic complexity and
design/verification/mask costs, not by the billion transistor limit.
At 30 nm, we'll have maybe 10 billion transistors on a chip. Will the
world economy be trashed because we can't have, say, 100 billion?
This is being typed on a 700 MHz Dell PC; Agent would work about as
well on a 486DX. Except for severe simulation applications, I don't
really see a need for nanometer-scale logic, nor do I see why the
flattening of the Moore curve is an economic threat. Today's silicon
mostly serves to churn cell-phone minutes and to transport and display
porn.
Do we really need all that much computing horsepower? Ideas welcome.
John
10of100
John Larkin <jjla...@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote in message
news:<c0blq...@enews2.newsguy.com>...
John,
I would agree with you if that was all that there was. Alot of the
processing power will probably go into "behind the scene's" processing
such as voice/visual recognition and AI functions for the OS. These
will probably take up alot of the processing capabilities of advanced
(>1 billion transistor)processors. I don't agree that it will be the
end of the world if we don't have 100 Billion transistor chips, but it
would probably slow down advances in capabilities for the PC.
Greg
Robert V Hill
"10of100" <Greg_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c0dnr...@enews1.newsguy.com...
> John,
> I would agree with you if that was all that there was. Alot of the
> processing power will probably go into "behind the scene's" processing
> such as voice/visual recognition and AI functions for the OS. These
> will probably take up alot of the processing capabilities of advanced
> (>1 billion transistor)processors. I don't agree that it will be the
> end of the world if we don't have 100 Billion transistor chips, but it
> would probably slow down advances in capabilities for the PC.
>
> Greg
>
With in 10 years we will be using diamond in computers anyways, not silicon.
There are already at less one company that growing perfect diamond wafers
right now. They have wafers that are 76mm in diameter right now, will have
150mm in a couple of years, and will have 300mm in a couple of years after
that. Diamond semiconductors can run over 5 times hotter then silicon ones
can, and are better in every other way too. So we should have CPU that will
go over 60ghz by then. Also who know what ether types of improvement will be
thought of by then too. It would not surprise me if PC do top 100ghz with in
10 to 15 years from now. Also Intel and AMD are both talking about
multi-core CPU coming on lines some were at the end of the 90nm run or the
beginning of the next shrink 6.5mm, I think.
John Larkin
On 12 Feb 2004 00:30:37 GMT, "Robert V Hill" <t.bla...@comcast.net>
wrote:
Who is growing the diamond chips? Have they managed to dope them to
get transistor action? Diamond is nice... low dielectric constant and
something like 20x the thermal conductivity of silicon.
Yes, multiple CPU cores are a logical progression, especially when
immense amounts of cache are available. That would be good for
simulation (of nanotechnology!) and could eliminate multithreaded
operating systems, the majority of which are awful. No context
switching!
Nanotech and/or organics seem to me to have more interesting (and more
probable) potential for dense, nonvolatile data storage than for
superfast logic.
John
Eivind Kjorstad
Robert V Hill wrote:
> With in 10 years we will be using diamond in computers anyways, not
> silicon. There are already at less one company that growing perfect
> diamond wafers right now.
But that won't push out the limits very far. Tolerating higher
temperature means we can increase the clockspeed, assuming the
power-drain is acceptable, but assuming diamond behaves similar to
silicon, where the heat produced typically scales with something like
the cube of the frequency, then tolerating 5 times the temperature
don't amount to *that* much more clockability.
> So we should have CPU that will go over 60ghz by then.
Very optmisitc. Not only because it's a strange idea that tolerating 5
times the heat should let you clock 10 times higher, but also for other
fundamental limits. Such as for example the speed of ligth. In vacuum
ligth goes like 300.000 km/s, which means that if you run your
processor at 1Ghz, parts that are up to 30cm apart from eachothers
could theoretically communicate. Multiply that by 60, and you see that
ligth in vacuum would only manage 2cm.
Still sounds doable, until you start to consider that actually, we're
not talking ligth in vacuum, but electrons in half-conductors. And
actually, we're not talking straigth paths, but winded conductor-paths.
There's some things that *would* radically help for this problem though,
such as a switch to a 3-d layout rather than basically paths on a
surface as today. Dealing with the heat would be a problem though.
Mechanical nanotech-computers would also likely be limited by heat. You
can pack an enormous amount of transistor-equivalent mechanics into a
cube cm of volume, but if you operate them at a high enough frequency,
and each operation vastes just a little bit of energy in the form of
heat, you're going to have problems preventing that cubic cm from
melting. (in practice it'd offcourse stop functioning before melting)
Sincerely,
Eivind Kjrstad
d.w...@mdx.ac.uk
In article <c0blq...@enews2.newsguy.com>, John Larkin
<jjla...@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> writes:
>
>On 9 Feb 2004 17:09:40 GMT, ar...@nanoapex.com (Aryavarta Kumar) wrote:
>>
>>The Dark Secret of Hendrik Schn - transcript
>>NARRATOR (JACK FORTUNE): This is the story of the man behind the most
>>remarkable discovery. His breakthrough seemed so revolutionary it
>>could have created an extraordinary new world. A world where disease
>>could be destroyed before the first symptoms appear. Where nothing
>>would be beyond the boundaries of human knowledge. But others thought
>>it could also be a world where the darkest evil could be unleashed.
>>Where microscopic machines would link up to destroy us all.
>>http://news.nanoapex.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4252
>>
>
The link between Hendrik Schon's falsification of data and Nanotech was
pretty forced. The whole program seemed to be sensationalising the downsides of
Nanotech with dire warnings about Grey Goo.
To quote from the final lines of the transcript
"
But there is some good news. One route to the world of grey goo has faded. That
future is as far off as it has ever been. It means we can now rest a little
more securely.
"
Definitely the sort of TV coverage Nanotech can do without.
David Webb
Middlesex University
John Larkin
On 12 Feb 2004 17:31:42 GMT, Eivind Kjorstad <e...@vestdata.no> wrote:
>
>Robert V Hill wrote:
>
>> With in 10 years we will be using diamond in computers anyways, not
>> silicon. There are already at less one company that growing perfect
>> diamond wafers right now.
>
>But that won't push out the limits very far. Tolerating higher
>temperature means we can increase the clockspeed, assuming the
>power-drain is acceptable, but assuming diamond behaves similar to
>silicon, where the heat produced typically scales with something like
>the cube of the frequency, then tolerating 5 times the temperature
>don't amount to *that* much more clockability.
>
>> So we should have CPU that will go over 60ghz by then.
>
>Very optmisitc. Not only because it's a strange idea that tolerating 5
>times the heat should let you clock 10 times higher, but also for other
>fundamental limits. Such as for example the speed of ligth. In vacuum
>ligth goes like 300.000 km/s, which means that if you run your
>processor at 1Ghz, parts that are up to 30cm apart from eachothers
>could theoretically communicate. Multiply that by 60, and you see that
>ligth in vacuum would only manage 2cm.
>
It's even worse than that. The interconnects on most ICs are terrible
transmission lines, more like distributed R-C networks than nice TEM
wires. Effective velocities are far below the speed of light. Most
VLSI chips speeds are dominated now by interconnect delays, not basic
transistor switching speed. Increased density doesn't help all that
much: the interconnects get shorter, but they get thinner and skinnier
too. If the chip complexity goes up and the chips stay the same size,
the lengths don't even go down.
>Still sounds doable, until you start to consider that actually, we're
>not talking ligth in vacuum, but electrons in half-conductors. And
>actually, we're not talking straigth paths, but winded conductor-paths.
>
>There's some things that *would* radically help for this problem though,
>such as a switch to a 3-d layout rather than basically paths on a
>surface as today. Dealing with the heat would be a problem though.
High-end chips already have 8 or 10 copper interconnect layers.
>
>Mechanical nanotech-computers would also likely be limited by heat. You
>can pack an enormous amount of transistor-equivalent mechanics into a
>cube cm of volume, but if you operate them at a high enough frequency,
>and each operation vastes just a little bit of energy in the form of
>heat, you're going to have problems preventing that cubic cm from
>melting. (in practice it'd offcourse stop functioning before melting)
Any non-silicon nanotech logic is going to have the same physical
problems as silicon: speed of light, resistive interconnect losses,
power dissipation.
John
Robert V Hill
"Eivind Kjorstad" <e...@vestdata.no> wrote in message
news:c0gd9...@enews3.newsguy.com...
>
> Robert V Hill wrote:
>
> > With in 10 years we will be using diamond in computers anyways, not
> > silicon. There are already at less one company that growing perfect
> > diamond wafers right now.
>
> But that won't push out the limits very far. Tolerating higher
> temperature means we can increase the clockspeed, assuming the
> power-drain is acceptable, but assuming diamond behaves similar to
> silicon, where the heat produced typically scales with something like
> the cube of the frequency, then tolerating 5 times the temperature
> don't amount to *that* much more clockability.
>
> > So we should have CPU that will go over 60ghz by then.
>
> Very optmisitc. Not only because it's a strange idea that tolerating 5
> times the heat should let you clock 10 times higher, but also for other
> fundamental limits. Such as for example the speed of ligth. In vacuum
> ligth goes like 300.000 km/s, which means that if you run your
> processor at 1Ghz, parts that are up to 30cm apart from eachothers
> could theoretically communicate. Multiply that by 60, and you see that
> ligth in vacuum would only manage 2cm.
>
> Sincerely,
> Eivind Kjrstad
>
Well I did over look light speed limit, my bad. still using diamond and
maybe carbon nanotubes. We should get pretty high ghz speeds. We should be
able to put many more layers on a chip using diamond and carbon nanotubes
then we can using say silicon and copper, but only time will tell.
>From my limited study of Nano technology, we need much faster computers in
order to work with it. I agree with you that heat is always the problem with
any computer. I just feel that the next step in computers will be carbon,
diamond chips with nanotubes, as they can take much more heat then other
materials. Also most heat from a computer today come from leakage. If I
understand what I have read correctly, both diamond and nanotubes should
have much less leakage then other materials. I feel in order for
Nano-technology to be possible we will need the fastest computers possible.
Computer speeds will be more of a problem then Smallies' sticky fingers will
ever be.
Robert V Hill
"John Larkin" <jjla...@highSNIPlandTHIStechPLEASEnology.com> wrote in
message news:c0f1a...@enews1.newsguy.com...
>
> On 12 Feb 2004 00:30:37 GMT, "Robert V Hill" <t.bla...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> Who is growing the diamond chips? Have they managed to dope them to
> get transistor action? Diamond is nice... low dielectric constant and
> something like 20x the thermal conductivity of silicon.
yes they have manage to dope Diamond in the lab I believe. here a article in
wired if you wish to read it.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=
[ Moderator's note: The text from "peer through the glass," to "about $5" is
material quoted from the Wired article. -JimL ]
peer through the glass. Four diamonds are growing beneath a shimmering green
cloud. "It took me a long time to get to this point," says one of the men
standing beside the machine. This is Robert Linares, Bryant's father. In the
1980s, he was a well-known researcher in advanced semiconductor materials.
His company, Spectrum Technology, pioneered the commercialization of gallium
arsenide wafers, the microchip substrate that succeeded silicon and allowed
cell phones to become smaller and handle more bandwidth. Linares sold the
company to PacifiCorp, a diversified utility, in 1985 and disappeared from
the semiconducting world.
It turns out he took the money and built a secret diamond research lab. "I
knew diamonds were going to be the ultimate semiconductor at some point, but
everybody thought it was impossible at the time," Linares says. "I had the
freedom to do what I wanted after I sold my company, so I spent almost 15
years researching on my own."
To grow single-crystal diamond using chemical vapor deposition, you must
first divine the exact combination of temperature, gas composition, and
pressure - a "sweet spot" that results in the formation of a single crystal.
Otherwise, innumerable small diamond crystals will rain down. Hitting on the
single-crystal sweet spot is like locating a single grain of sand on the
beach. There's only one combination among millions. In 1996, Linares found
it. This June, he finally received a US patent for the process, which
already is producing flawless stones.
By January, Apollo plans to start selling them on the jewelry market. But
that's just the first step. Robert and Bryant Linares expect to use revenue
from the gem trade to fund their company's semiconductor ambitions. Not
surprisingly, the diamond industry is hostile to the idea, as the younger
Linares discovered four years ago when he attended an industry conference in
Prague. He was hoping to find out whether any other researchers - possibly
De Beers scientists themselves - had discovered the sweet spot. During a
break in the conference, a man approached Linares and told him to be
careful. "He said that my father's research was a good way to get a bullet
in the head," Linares recalls.
The diamond industry is in fact even more concerned about gems made using
chemical vapor deposition than it is about Gemesis stones, though Gemesis
poses a more immediate threat. The promise of CVD is that it produces
extremely pure crystal. Gemesis diamonds grow in a metal solvent, and tiny
particles of those metals get caught in the diamond lattice as it grows. CVD
diamond precipitates as nearly 100 percent pure diamond and therefore may
not be discernible from naturals, no matter how advanced the detection
equipment.
But the greatest potential for CVD diamond lies in computing. If diamond is
ever to be a practical material for semiconducting, it will need to be
affordably grown in large wafers. (The silicon wafers Intel uses, for
example, are 1 foot in diameter.) CVD growth is limited only by the size of
the seed placed in the Apollo machine. Starting with a square, waferlike
fragment, the Linares process will grow the diamond into a prismatic shape,
with the top slightly wider than the base. For the past seven years - since
Robert Linares first discovered the sweet spot - Apollo has been growing
increasingly larger seeds by chopping off the top layer of growth and using
that as the starting point for the next batch. At the moment, the company is
producing 10-millimeter wafers but predicts it will reach an inch square by
year's end and 4 inches in five years. The price per carat: about $5.
it seem I was wrong about the size of the wafers, but they are growing them.
Gordon D. Pusch
Eivind Kjorstad <e...@vestdata.no> writes:
> Robert V Hill wrote:
>
>> With in 10 years we will be using diamond in computers anyways, not
>> silicon. There are already at less one company that growing perfect
>> diamond wafers right now.
>
> But that won't push out the limits very far. Tolerating higher
> temperature means we can increase the clockspeed, assuming the
> power-drain is acceptable, but assuming diamond behaves similar to
> silicon, where the heat produced typically scales with something like
> the cube of the frequency, then tolerating 5 times the temperature
> don't amount to *that* much more clockability.
IMO, as heat dissipation becomes a more and more serious problem,
it will eventually force a phase-transition to different approaches
to hardware architecture. "Hot clocking" has the potential to greatly
reduce heat dissipation via combining the functions of the clock bus
and power bus, and only switching a transitor when the voltage across
it is "low." And it has been shown that the only computing operations
that _HAVE_ to dissipate energy are operations where bits are irreversibly
created and destroyed, so that in principle, it is possible to build
a "reversible" universal computer with _ZERO_ energy dissipation,
except for I/O operations. (Albeit, _complete_ reversibility can come
at a high price: Since it is not possible to create or erase bits
without generating heat, one has to save any auxiliary data required
to uniquely reconstruct every step or decision in the program, extra
bits for any gate whose fan-out differs from its fan-in (including
simple junctions!), etc.; as a result, many common algorithms will
consume EXPONENTIAL amounts of memory unless _some_ heat dissipation
is tolerated, e.g., each time one has to clear the "bit dump"... :-(
For more information, Google on "reversible computing."
Finally, note that Quantum Computers are NECESSARILY and INTRINSICALLY
also "reversible computers," and will therefore have zero power dissipation
(modulo I/O and clearing the "bit dump").
> Mechanical nanotech-computers would also likely be limited by heat.
> You can pack an enormous amount of transistor-equivalent mechanics
> into a cube cm of volume, but if you operate them at a high enough
> frequency, and each operation vastes just a little bit of energy in the
> form of heat, you're going to have problems preventing that cubic cm from
> melting. (in practice it'd offcourse stop functioning before melting)
I have never found Drexler's "rod logic" particularly compelling;
I personally expect nanomachinery to use molecular or quantum electronics,
and have effectors based on reversible molecular conformation changes...
-- Gordon D. Pusch
perl -e '$_ = "gdpusch\@NO.xnet.SPAM.com\n"; s/NO\.//; s/SPAM\.//; print;'
Robert V Hill
"Gordon D. Pusch" <g_d_pusch_remo...@xnet.com> wrote in message
news:c0j0o...@enews2.newsguy.com...
> I have never found Drexler's "rod logic" particularly compelling;
> I personally expect nanomachinery to use molecular or quantum electronics,
> and have effectors based on reversible molecular conformation changes...
>
>
> -- Gordon D. Pusch
>
> perl -e '$_ = "gdpusch\@NO.xnet.SPAM.com\n"; s/NO\.//; s/SPAM\.//; print;'
>
>
Same here they may have many applications, but I do not at this time think
they will fully replace circuity. In the lab they are building circuits out
of molecule and even atoms. Electron spin look promising for a way to make
quantum computers.