HP gets all molecular

 

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Posted on 19 Jul 2001 at 16:14

One for the futurists. HP is boasting the award of a molecular-level patent. And it's nothing to do with gene sequences or the Genome project.

Hewlett-Packard has announced that it's been awarded a patent that - it believes - could remove a major obstacle on the road to molecular-scale computing. It proposes a solution to the problem of connecting molecular-scale devices to the much larger integrated circuits of today.

"We have a strategy to reinvent the integrated circuit with molecular rather than semiconductor components," asserts HP Fellow Williams, director of quantum science research, HP Labs. According to fellow researcher, Phil Kuekes: "Once you've built a circuit from molecular-scale devices - something about the size of a bacterium - the question is how you get data into and out of it. In order to do that, you have to bridge the size gap between molecular-scale wires and current technology, which is about a hundred times bigger."

The new patent proposes making connections randomly using a chemical process. The resulting pattern, apparently, can then be determined using computer algorithms.

The motive behind the research is the approaching end of Moore's law - that silicon technology will reach physical and economic limits by the end of the decade.

At the end of last year we reported on nanotechnology research at Cornell University. They've also managed to build a molecular model - a truck that's made of a single molecule and could carry a smaller molecule on its back. It is ecologically sound too, as it runs on magnetic fields rather than petrol!

Author: Alun Williams