New Semiconductor Device Could Result in Super Energy Efficient Computers

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co. (NTT), the largest telecommunications company in Japan, announced on April 11, 2008, that it has developed the world's first semiconductor device that performs digital calculations using the micro-mechanical vibration of a flat spring thinner than a human hair and mounted on a chip. This accomplishment was published online in the April 13 issue of the British journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The new semiconductor device, developed by NTT Basic Research Laboratories, has a tiny flat spring mounted on it measuring 250 microns in length (one micron = one millionth of a meter), 85 microns in width, and 1.4 microns in thickness. This spring, thinner than a human hair (typically about 80 microns), vibrates vertically at the extremely small range of about 10 nanometers, equal to one hundred millionth of a meter. The cycle timing of oscillation is converted into "0" or "1" bit data for digital signal processing.

With a hundred billionth of a watt of electricity, the device can control and detect the oscillation of a flat spring on a chip. This technology offers the possibility of developing a highly energy efficient computer that would consume several orders of magnitude less power than the current transistor-based integrated circuit. NTT will test the performance of multiple devices connected and further advance the research on chip size reduction, pursuing even higher frequency, higher integration, and lower power consumption.

http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v3/n5/abs/nnano.2008.84.html
http://www.brl.ntt.co.jp/E/index.html

Posted: 2008/08/24 04:44:48 PM