High-speed nanotube transistors could lead to better cell phones, faster computers
April 28, 2004 | Source: KurzweilAI
Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that transistors made from single-walled carbon nanotubes can operate at extremely fast microwave frequencies, opening up the potential for better cell phones and much faster computers, perhaps as much as 1,000 times faster.
Peter Burke, Ph.D., a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Irvine and his colleagues built an electrical circuit with a carbon nanotube between two gold electrodes. When they varied the voltage, the circuit operated at a frequency of 2.6 gigahertz. This is the first demonstration of a nanotube operating at microwave frequencies.
Burke believes that much faster speeds are possible. “I estimate that the theoretical speed limit for these nanotube transistors should be terahertz, which is about 1,000 times faster than modern computer speeds.”