Sol Invictus
08-17-2009, 04:00 PM
Paul Taylor
Financial Times
August 17 2009
Scientists working for IBM may have found a way to use DNA – the basic building block of life – to help construct the next generation of semiconductor chips in a breakthrough that would replace the hugely expensive and complex machinery currently used.
As the costs of producing ever smaller and more powerful chips have soared, semiconductor manufacturers have grown increasingly interested in alternative methods for constructing the microcircuits built on the surface of silicon or other semiconductors.
Scientists have suggested that artificial DNA nanostructures and “DNA origami”, in which a long single strand of DNA is folded into a shape using shorter “staple strands”, could be used to provide a template for the self-assembly of other materials into nanoelectronic or nano-optical devices on the surface of the chip.
Normally, however, DNA origami is formed in solution and uncontrolled deposition results in random arrangements rather than the predictable and repetitive patterns needed to build microcircuitry.
Full Article (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2056a292-8ac1-11de-ad08-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss&nclick_check=1)
Financial Times
August 17 2009
Scientists working for IBM may have found a way to use DNA – the basic building block of life – to help construct the next generation of semiconductor chips in a breakthrough that would replace the hugely expensive and complex machinery currently used.
As the costs of producing ever smaller and more powerful chips have soared, semiconductor manufacturers have grown increasingly interested in alternative methods for constructing the microcircuits built on the surface of silicon or other semiconductors.
Scientists have suggested that artificial DNA nanostructures and “DNA origami”, in which a long single strand of DNA is folded into a shape using shorter “staple strands”, could be used to provide a template for the self-assembly of other materials into nanoelectronic or nano-optical devices on the surface of the chip.
Normally, however, DNA origami is formed in solution and uncontrolled deposition results in random arrangements rather than the predictable and repetitive patterns needed to build microcircuitry.
Full Article (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2056a292-8ac1-11de-ad08-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss&nclick_check=1)