MOLECULAR COMPUTERS?
Imagine a computer so small it could be woven into the fabric of your clothing.
According to Reuters news release, computer experts from UCLA and Hewlett Packard
have announced that tiny, super-fast computers known as molecular computers -
are on the horizon. These computers will be built on a crystalline structure rather
than silicon chips. They will be able to hold vast amounts of data permanently and will
require much less power than current computers. Potentially, you will be able to do
approximately 100 billion times better than current chip in terms of energy required
to do a calculation.
The new technology is based on a newly created compound called rotaxane,
which grows in a crystalline structure. Instead of having information etched on silicon
chips (which limits the reduction in size), crystalline can absorb information. The
roadblock delaying implementation is that wires are currently too big they need to be
the same size as the rotaxane molecules. Stay tuned for further developments.