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Carbon-nanotube computer scaled up

Electronic devices that are based on carbon nanotubes have the potential to be more energy efficient than their silicon counterparts, but have been restricted in functionality. This limitation has now been overcome.
  1. Franz Kreupl

    1. Franz Kreupl is in the Department of Hybrid Electronic Systems, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany.

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For many decades, progress in electronics has been driven by a gradual reduction in the size of silicon transistors (electronic switches). However, this scaling is becoming increasingly difficult and is now yielding diminishing returns. Transistors based on semiconducting carbon nanotubes are clear front runners as replacements for silicon transistors in advanced microelectronic devices. But imperfections inherent in carbon nanotubes, and challenges in handling these tiny objects, have prevented their use in real-world microelectronic applications. Writing in Nature, Hills et al.1 report a major advance in this field: a 16-bit computer that is built entirely from carbon-nanotube transistors.

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Nature 572, 588-589 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02519-2

References

  1. Hills, G. et al. Nature 572, 595–602 (2019).

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  2. Qiu, C. et al. Science 355, 271–276 (2017).

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  3. Zhong, D., Xiao, M., Zhang, Z. & Peng, L.-M. 2017 IEEE Int. Electron Devices Meet. 5.6.1–5.6.4 (2017).

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  4. Cao, Q., Tersoff, J., Farmer, D. B., Zhu, Y. & Han, S.-J. Science 356, 1369–1372 (2017).

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  5. Han, S.-J. et al. Nature Nanotechnol. 12, 861–865 (2017).

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