Harvard researchers build nanowire computing panel

A team of researchers at Harvard University has successfully created the first functioning nanowire computer.

The computer is made up of a grid of 10nm silicon-coated germanium wires laid over a separate layer of metal oxide lines.

It can be programmed by turning specific junctions in the grid on or off with electrical current, and the finished device has 496 programmable transistors in an area of 960 micrometres.

"This work represents a quantum jump forward in the complexity and function of circuits built from the bottom up, and thus demonstrates that this bottom-up paradigm, which is distinct from the way commercial circuits are built today, can yield nano-processors and other integrated systems of the future," said Professor Charles Lieber of Harvard University.

Crucially 'logic tile' computing devices such as this can be linked with each other and scaled up into larger computational systems capable of more than basic mathematical functions.

"This new nano-processor represents a major milestone toward realising the vision of a nano-computer that was first articulated more than 50 years ago by physicist Richard Feynman," said James Ellenbogen, a chief scientist at research and development organisation Mitre Corporation, which supports the research.

The current generation of commercial processors, which are made by etching circuits onto silicon, are far denser than this technique at present. But the team said that the process could be as much as 100 times more power efficient than existing computers.

The power saving comes from the fact that, once the nanowire transistors are programmed, they require no further power to maintain memory.

"Because of their very small size and very low power requirements, these new nano-processor circuits are building blocks that can control and enable an entirely new class of much smaller, lighter electronic sensors and consumer electronics," said Shamik Das, lead engineer in Mitre's Nanosystems Group.