[Am-info] Two Nano-Materials Are Better Than One

[Fred A. Miller]

Two Nano-Materials Are Better Than One

Researchers say they have fabricated ultrasmall wires out of
materials that previously could not be used together. The result,
they say, represents a major advance in nanotechnology research
and could move the sci-fi fantasy of ultrasmall supercomputers
and microscopic electronic devices closer to reality.

University of California, Berkeley, chemist Peidong Yang says he
made "superlattice" nanowire, a strand less than 100 nanometers
in diameter, by alternating segments of silicon and silicon
germanium. Yang "grew" the wire like a crystal, adding blocks of
each material in turn as the structure formed.

"These are not materials you can bring together in a traditional
semiconductor manufacturing environment," says Larry Bock,
president and CEO of Nanosys Inc., a company he co-founded with
Yang that's licensing the technology. "But when you operate down
on this size scale, you don't have those surface tensions."

The result combines the best of both materials, and its
composition can be customized for different functions. A nanowire
can precisely control electrical current, emit light, heat or
cool a device, or even store information. And the tiny wires can
serve as components for more complicated devices, allowing
engineers to build smaller and smaller electronic and optical
hardware. - David M. Ewalt

Read on
Small Stuff Draws Big Interest
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eGTS0Bce7K0V20BZ8o0Ae

How Small Can You Go?
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eGTS0Bce7K0V20BVUS0Ab

-- 
Fred A. Miller
Systems Administrator
Cornell Univ. Press Services
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