This
blog is based upon a video on future technologies from ted.com. The video I chose was on Nanocomputers. Specifically computers and circuits build
from self assembling nano-carbon tubes.
Video on Nano-Computers
The
video discusses breakthrough innovations that result from working with
nano-materials (materials on the scale of one billionth of a meter). Specifically discussed are building with
carbon tubes (note that carbon and hydrogen are the most prevalent atoms in
nature and account for most of organic materials and living things). The problem stated is that these materials
are so small that we don't have tools that are small enough to work with them. The answer, the speaker states, is to do
what nature does, to create things like nano-robots, nano-circuits, even a
nano-elevator by having the carbon atoms and tube self assemble themselves into
circuits, robots, etc... This is how
nature does it. Cells are basically
large structures and processes that are assembled out of molecules that combine
themselves to create cells simply by chemical forces. In the same way chemistry and the
electrostatic and steric forces of chemistry can self assemble nano-tubes into
circuits.
The
speaker, as myself, is most interested in assembly circuits and entire CPU and
computer from nano-carbon tubes. Carbon,
like any atom, has electronic properties by the fact that atoms interact and
combine through their electron shells.
The speaker notes that we are coming to the end of Moore's law, i.e., to
the end of miniaturization of circuits and hence the end to the increase in how
many transistors can be put on a chip and how fast the computer is. The answer it would seem is to build a
computer from nano-materials, which would be much much smaller and at least 10
times faster.
After
the video I found and read several articles on nano-computers (see references
below). Peper, Lee, Adachi, and Mashiko (2003)
have been testing which nano-material architecture is most suited to building
circuits. They have had some success
with asynchronous cellular arrays, which has a regular structure of
interconnected cells and an asynchronous mode of timing (which may obviate the
need for a central clock as used in the current generation of CPUs) (Beckett
and Jennings, 2002). The cells can be
manufactured through self-assembly, as indicated in the video. Operations can be timed randomly and
independently and do not require a central clock with uses power and dissipates
heat (Tseng and Ellenbogen, 2001). Their
circuits operate with an asynchronous delay insensitive signals. The prevailing Von Neumann architecture of
the current generation of computers where memory and processing are separated
would not be used. The computers would
be composed of a large number of identical cells (up to Avogadro's number,
1*10^23 cells) (Durbeck and Macias, 2001).
They have assembled several architectures including a field programmable
gate array (FPGA) and cellular automaton, each cell operating according to
global rules to produce general purpose computation.
The
video about nano-circuits, etc... can be found at:
Two Forces that Impact the
Innovation
The
first force affecting the future of nano-technology would just be the continued
funding of research venues. Some of this
research is being done at universities, some in industry. Both need a constant source of funding that
is not tied to a promise of any near term profits, as this research won't
produce any useable products for perhaps a decade or two.
The
second force I would say is global cooperation.
Much of this research is being done around the world. The need to share papers and results across
borders rather than in industry profit motivated labs is requisite for the
cross fertilization of research and advancement of the technology.
References
Beckett, P.,
& Jennings, A. (2002). Towards nanocomputer architecture. Australian
Computer Science Communications, 24(3),
141-150.
Durbeck, L. J., & Macias, N. J. (2001). The cell matrix:
an architecture for nanocomputing. Nanotechnology,
12(3), 217.
Peper, F., Lee,
J., Adachi, S., & Mashiko, S. (2003). Laying out circuits on asynchronous
cellular arrays: a step towards feasible
nanocomputers?. Nanotechnology, 14(4), 469.
TED. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.ted.com/
Tseng, G. Y.,
& Ellenbogen, J. C. (2001). Toward nanocomputers. Science, 294(5545),
1293-1294.
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