For the first time, scientists have built a transistor out of carbon nanotubes that can run almost twice as fast as its silicon counterparts. This is big, because for decades, scientists have been trying to figure out how to build the next generation of computers using carbon nanotube components, because their unique properties could form the basis of faster devices that consume way less power.
Making carbon nanotube transistors that are better than silicon transistors is a big milestone, said one of the team, Michael Arnold, from the University of Wisconsin. This achievement has been a dream of nanotechnology for the last 20 years.
First developed back in 1991, carbon nanotubes are basically minuscule carbon straws that measure just 1 atom thick. Imagine a tiny, cylindrical tube that is approximately 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, and made from carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal arrays. That iss what a carbon nanotube wire would look like if you could see it at an atomic level.
Because of their size, carbon nanotubes can be packed by the millions onto wafers that can act just like a silicon transistor, the electrical switches that together form a computer central processing unit (CPU).
Despite being incredibly tiny, carbon nanotubes have some unique properties that make them an engineering dream. They are more than 100 times stronger than steel, but only one-sixth as heavy. They are stretchy and flexible like a thread of fabric, and can maintain their 1-atom-thick walls while growing up to hundreds of microns long. To put this into perspective, says carbon nanotubes producer, NanoScience Instruments, if a hair had the same aspect ratio, a single strand would be over 40 meters long.
And here is the best part. Just like that other 1-atom-thick wonder-material, called graphene, carbon nanotubes are one of the most conductive and heat-resistant materials ever discovered and will likely replace silcon chips in the future.
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