The Graphene-Paved Roadmap: 'Wonder Material' Has Potential to Revolutionize Our Lives
ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2012) —
Wonder material graphene could not only dominate the electronic market in the near future, it could also lead to a huge range of new markets and novel applications, a landmark University of Manchester paper claims.
Writing in Nature, Nobel Prize-winner Professor Kostya Novoselov and an international team of authors has produced a 'Graphene Roadmap' which for the first time sets out what the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material can truly achieve.
The paper details how graphene, isolated for the first time at The University of Manchester by Professor Novoselov and colleague Professor Andre Geim in 2004, has the potential to revolutionise diverse applications from smartphones and ultrafast broadband to anticancer drugs and computer chips.
One key area is touchscreen devices, such as Apple's iPad, which use indium tin oxide. Graphene's outstanding mechanical flexibility and chemical durability are far superior. Graphene touchscreen devices would prove far more long-lasting and would open a way for flexible devices.
The authors estimate that the first graphene touchscreen devices could be on the market within three to five years, but will only realise its full potential in flexible electronics applications.
Rollable e-paper is another application which should be available as a prototype by 2015 -- graphene's flexibility proving ideal for fold-up electronic sheets which could revolutionise electronics.
Timescales for applications vary greatly upon the quality of graphene required, the report claims. For example, the researchers estimate devices including photo-detectors, high-speed wireless communications and THz generators (for use in medical imaging and security devices) would not be available until at least 2020, while anticancer drugs and graphene as a replacement for silicon is unlikely to become a reality until around 2030.
The paper also details the different ways of producing graphene -- processes which have evolved hugely from the sticky tape method pioneered by the Nobel Laureates.
The paper asserts that there are three main methods for making graphene:
Liquid phase and thermal exfoliation -- exposing graphite to a solvent which splits it into individual flakes of graphene. This method is ideal for energy applications (batteries and supercapacitors) as well as graphene paints and inks for products such as printed electronics, smart windows and electromagnetic shielding.
Adding additional functionality to composite materials (extra strength, conductivity, moisture barrier) is another area such graphene can be applied.
Chemical Vapour Deposition -- growing graphene films on copper foils, for use in flexible and transparent electronics applications and photonics, among others.
Synthesis on Silicon Carbide -- growing graphene on either the silicon or carbon faces of this material commonly used for high power electronics. This can result in very high quality graphene with excellently-formed crystals, perfect for high-frequency transistors.
Professor Novoselov said: "Graphene has a potential to revolutionise many aspects of our lives simultaneously. Some applications might appear within a few years already and some still require years of hard work.
"Different applications require different grades of graphene and those which use the lowest grade will be the first to appear, probably as soon as in a few years. Those which require the highest quality may well take decades.
"Because the developments in the last few years were truly explosive, graphene's prospects continue to rapidly improve.
"Graphene is a unique crystal in a sense that it has singlehandedly usurped quite a number of superior properties: from mechanical to electronic. This suggests that its full power will only be realised in novel applications, which are designed specifically with this material in mind, rather than when it is called to substitute other materials in existing applications.
"One thing is certain -- scientists and engineers will continue looking into prospects offered by graphene and, along the way, many more ideas for new applications are likely to emerge."
His co-author Professor Volodya Falko, from Lancaster University, said: "By our paper, we aim to raise awareness of engineers, innovators, and entrepreneurs to the enormous potential of graphene to improve the existing technologies and to generate new products.
"To mention, in some countries, including Korea, Poland and the UK national funding agencies already run multi-million engineering-led research programmes aiming at commercialisation of graphene at a large scale."
The paper was written with colleagues from Lancaster University, Texas Instruments Incorporated, AstraZeneca, BASF and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Significant Advance In Developing Nuclear Fusion Power
University of Tennessee at Knoxville (2012, June 8). Big step taken to develop nuclear fusion power. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 12, 2012
ScienceDaily (June 8, 2012) — Researchers have successfully developed a key technology in developing an experimental fusion reactor. Imagine a world without human-made climate change, energy crunches or reliance on foreign oil. It may sound like a dream world, but University of Tennessee, Knoxville, engineers have made a giant step toward making this scenario a reality.
UT researchers have successfully developed a key technology in developing an experimental reactor that can demonstrate the feasibility of fusion energy for the power grid. Nuclear fusion promises to supply more energy than the nuclear fission used today but with far fewer risks.
Mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering professors David Irick, Madhu Madhukar and Masood Parang are engaged in a project involving the United States, five other nations, and the European Union, known as ITER. UT researchers completed a critical step this week for the project by successfully testing their technology this week that will insulate and stabilize the central solenoid -- the reactor's backbone.
ITER is building a fusion reactor that aims to produce 10 times the amount of energy that it uses. The facility is now under construction near Cadarache, France, and will begin operations in 2020.
"The goal of ITER is to help bring fusion power to the commercial market," Madhukar said. "Fusion power is safer and more efficient than nuclear fission power. There is no danger of runaway reactions like what happened in nuclear fission reactions in Japan and Chernobyl, and there is little radioactive waste." Unlike today's nuclear fission reactors, fusion uses a similar process as that which powers the sun.
Since 2008, UT engineering professors and about 15 students have worked inside UT's Magnet Development Laboratory (MDL) located off of Pellissippi Parkway to develop technology that serves to insulate and provide structural integrity to the more than 1,000 ton central solenoid.
A tokamak reactor uses magnetic fields to confine the plasma -- a hot, electrically charged gas that serves as the reactor fuel -- into the shape of a torus. The central solenoid, which consists of six giant coils stacked on top of one another, plays the starring role by both igniting and steering the plasma current.
The key to unlocking the technology was finding the right material -- a glass fiber and epoxy chemical mixture that is liquid at high temperatures and turns hard when cured -- and the right process of inserting this material into all of the necessary spaces inside the central solenoid. The special mixture provides electrical insulation and strength to the heavy structure. The impregnation process moves the material at the right pace, factoring in temperature, pressure, vacuum and the material's flow rate.
This week, the UT team tested the technology inside its mockup of the central solenoid conductor. "During the epoxy impregnation, we were in a race against time," said Madhukar. "With the epoxy, we have these competing parameters. The higher the temperature, the lower the viscosity; but at the same time, the higher the temperature, the shorter the working life of the epoxy." It took two years to develop the technology, more than two days to impregnate the central solenoid mockup and multiple pairs of watchful eyes to ensure everything went according to plan.
It did.
This summer, the team's technology will be transferred to US ITER industry partner General Atomics in San Diego, which will build the central solenoid and ship it to France. ITER -- designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power -- will be the world's largest tokamak. As an ITER member, the US receives full access to all ITER-developed technology and scientific data, but bears less than 10 percent of the construction cost, which is shared among partner nations. US ITER is a Department of Energy Office of Science project managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
ScienceDaily (June 8, 2012) — Researchers have successfully developed a key technology in developing an experimental fusion reactor. Imagine a world without human-made climate change, energy crunches or reliance on foreign oil. It may sound like a dream world, but University of Tennessee, Knoxville, engineers have made a giant step toward making this scenario a reality.
UT researchers have successfully developed a key technology in developing an experimental reactor that can demonstrate the feasibility of fusion energy for the power grid. Nuclear fusion promises to supply more energy than the nuclear fission used today but with far fewer risks.
Mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering professors David Irick, Madhu Madhukar and Masood Parang are engaged in a project involving the United States, five other nations, and the European Union, known as ITER. UT researchers completed a critical step this week for the project by successfully testing their technology this week that will insulate and stabilize the central solenoid -- the reactor's backbone.
ITER is building a fusion reactor that aims to produce 10 times the amount of energy that it uses. The facility is now under construction near Cadarache, France, and will begin operations in 2020.
"The goal of ITER is to help bring fusion power to the commercial market," Madhukar said. "Fusion power is safer and more efficient than nuclear fission power. There is no danger of runaway reactions like what happened in nuclear fission reactions in Japan and Chernobyl, and there is little radioactive waste." Unlike today's nuclear fission reactors, fusion uses a similar process as that which powers the sun.
Since 2008, UT engineering professors and about 15 students have worked inside UT's Magnet Development Laboratory (MDL) located off of Pellissippi Parkway to develop technology that serves to insulate and provide structural integrity to the more than 1,000 ton central solenoid.
A tokamak reactor uses magnetic fields to confine the plasma -- a hot, electrically charged gas that serves as the reactor fuel -- into the shape of a torus. The central solenoid, which consists of six giant coils stacked on top of one another, plays the starring role by both igniting and steering the plasma current.
The key to unlocking the technology was finding the right material -- a glass fiber and epoxy chemical mixture that is liquid at high temperatures and turns hard when cured -- and the right process of inserting this material into all of the necessary spaces inside the central solenoid. The special mixture provides electrical insulation and strength to the heavy structure. The impregnation process moves the material at the right pace, factoring in temperature, pressure, vacuum and the material's flow rate.
This week, the UT team tested the technology inside its mockup of the central solenoid conductor. "During the epoxy impregnation, we were in a race against time," said Madhukar. "With the epoxy, we have these competing parameters. The higher the temperature, the lower the viscosity; but at the same time, the higher the temperature, the shorter the working life of the epoxy." It took two years to develop the technology, more than two days to impregnate the central solenoid mockup and multiple pairs of watchful eyes to ensure everything went according to plan.
It did.
This summer, the team's technology will be transferred to US ITER industry partner General Atomics in San Diego, which will build the central solenoid and ship it to France. ITER -- designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power -- will be the world's largest tokamak. As an ITER member, the US receives full access to all ITER-developed technology and scientific data, but bears less than 10 percent of the construction cost, which is shared among partner nations. US ITER is a Department of Energy Office of Science project managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Will our kids be a different species?
Throughout human evolution, multiple versions of humans co-existed. Could we be mid-upgrade now? At TEDxSummit, Juan Enriquez sweeps across time and space to bring us to the present moment -- and shows how technology is revealing evidence that suggests rapid evolution may be under way.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
The Trilateral Commission
David Rockefeller, Chairman (and founder) of The Trilateral Commission, in a speech to the members:
"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries."
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Quantum Computers Are Leaping Ahead
Jeff Forshaw
The Observer, Sunday 6 May 2012
The reality of the universe in which we live is an outrage to common sense. Over the past 100 years, scientists have been forced to abandon a theory in which the stuff of the universe constitutes a single, concrete reality in exchange for one in which a single particle can be in two (or more) places at the same time. This is the universe as revealed by the laws of quantum physics and it is a model we are forced to accept – we have been battered into it by the weight of the scientific evidence.
Without it, we would not have discovered and exploited the tiny switches present in their billions on every microchip, in every mobile phone and computer around the world. The modern world is built using quantum physics: through its technological applications in medicine, global communications and scientific computing it has shaped the world in which we live.
Although modern computing relies on the fidelity of quantum physics, the action of those tiny switches remains firmly in the domain of everyday logic. Each switch can be either "on" or "off", and computer programs are implemented by controlling the flow of electricity through a network of wires and switches: the electricity flows through open switches and is blocked by closed switches. The result is a plethora of extremely useful devices that process information in a fantastic variety of ways.
Modern "classical" computers seem to have almost limitless potential – there is so much we can do with them. But there is an awful lot we cannot do with them too. There are problems in science that are of tremendous importance but which we have no hope of solving, not ever, using classical computers. The trouble is that some problems require so much information processing that there simply aren't enough atoms in the universe to build a switch-based computer to solve them.
This isn't an esoteric matter of mere academic interest – classical computers can't ever hope to model the behaviour of some systems that contain even just a few tens of atoms. This is a serious obstacle to those who are trying to understand the way molecules behave or how certain materials work – without the possibility to build computer models they are hampered in their efforts. One example is the field of high-temperature superconductivity.
Certain materials are able to conduct electricity "for free" at surprisingly high temperatures (still pretty cold, though, at well but still below -100 degrees celsius). The trouble is, nobody really knows how they work and that seriously hinders any attempt to make a commercially viable technology. The difficulty in simulating physical systems of this type arises whenever quantum effects are playing an important role and that is the clue we need to identify a possible way to make progress.
It was American physicist Richard Feynman who, in 1981, first recognised that nature evidently does not need to employ vast computing resources to manufacture complicated quantum systems. That means if we can mimic nature then we might be able to simulate these systems without the prohibitive computational cost.
Simulating nature is already done every day in science labs around the world – simulations allow scientists to play around in ways that cannot be realised in an experiment, either because the experiment would be too difficult or expensive or even impossible. Feynman's insight was that simulations that inherently include quantum physics from the outset have the potential to tackle those otherwise impossible problems.
Quantum simulations have, in the past year, really taken off. The ability to delicately manipulate and measure systems containing just a few atoms is a requirement of any attempt at quantum simulation and it is thanks to recent technical advances that this is now becoming possible.
Most recently, in an article published in the journal Nature last week, physicists from the US, Australia and South Africa have teamed up to build a device capable of simulating a particular type of magnetism that is of interest to those who are studying high-temperature superconductivity. Their simulator is esoteric. It is a small pancake-like layer less than 1 millimetre across made from 300 beryllium atoms that is delicately disturbed using laser beams… and it paves the way for future studies into quantum magnetism that will be impossible using a classical computer.
It is one thing to build a dedicated simulator, aimed at tackling one particular scientific problem, but we can be more ambitious and try to build a general purpose computer that exploits quantum physics to perform a variety of otherwise impossible tasks. Simulating physical systems would be just one task suited to such a computer. We can liken that to what is done in computing today – modern computers don't just run simulations for scientists. The idea of a general-purpose quantum computer was first recognised in 1985 by Oxford physicist David Deutsch and today the race is on as groups around the world aim to figure out how best to build one.
At its heart, a quantum computer works with switches that do not only exist in "on" and "off" states but also in states that are simultaneously "on" and "off". They are known as qubits (pronounced "cubits") and by accounting for the dual nature of a qubit it becomes possible for a quantum computer to perform many calculations in parallel. Put simply, if a classical computer gives one answer if a switch is "on" and another when the switch is "off" then one would need to perform the calculation twice, once for each possibility, to collect both possible answers. With a quantum computer, the calculations can be done at the same time.
The real power of a quantum computer comes from manipulating several qubits at once. A computer operating on a mere 250 qubits (which could be encoded using 250 atoms) would require a classical computer built from all the atoms in the visible universe to encode the same information.
This is a field of research where progress is very rapid – important developments are a weekly occurrence – and right now the challenge is to build systems that can manipulate a handful of qubits without destroying their essential quantum nature. It is probably too soon to speculate on when the first full-scale quantum computer will be built but recent progress indicates that there is every reason to be optimistic.
The reality of the universe in which we live is an outrage to common sense. Over the past 100 years, scientists have been forced to abandon a theory in which the stuff of the universe constitutes a single, concrete reality in exchange for one in which a single particle can be in two (or more) places at the same time. This is the universe as revealed by the laws of quantum physics and it is a model we are forced to accept – we have been battered into it by the weight of the scientific evidence.
Without it, we would not have discovered and exploited the tiny switches present in their billions on every microchip, in every mobile phone and computer around the world. The modern world is built using quantum physics: through its technological applications in medicine, global communications and scientific computing it has shaped the world in which we live.
Although modern computing relies on the fidelity of quantum physics, the action of those tiny switches remains firmly in the domain of everyday logic. Each switch can be either "on" or "off", and computer programs are implemented by controlling the flow of electricity through a network of wires and switches: the electricity flows through open switches and is blocked by closed switches. The result is a plethora of extremely useful devices that process information in a fantastic variety of ways.
Modern "classical" computers seem to have almost limitless potential – there is so much we can do with them. But there is an awful lot we cannot do with them too. There are problems in science that are of tremendous importance but which we have no hope of solving, not ever, using classical computers. The trouble is that some problems require so much information processing that there simply aren't enough atoms in the universe to build a switch-based computer to solve them.
This isn't an esoteric matter of mere academic interest – classical computers can't ever hope to model the behaviour of some systems that contain even just a few tens of atoms. This is a serious obstacle to those who are trying to understand the way molecules behave or how certain materials work – without the possibility to build computer models they are hampered in their efforts. One example is the field of high-temperature superconductivity.
Certain materials are able to conduct electricity "for free" at surprisingly high temperatures (still pretty cold, though, at well but still below -100 degrees celsius). The trouble is, nobody really knows how they work and that seriously hinders any attempt to make a commercially viable technology. The difficulty in simulating physical systems of this type arises whenever quantum effects are playing an important role and that is the clue we need to identify a possible way to make progress.
It was American physicist Richard Feynman who, in 1981, first recognised that nature evidently does not need to employ vast computing resources to manufacture complicated quantum systems. That means if we can mimic nature then we might be able to simulate these systems without the prohibitive computational cost.
Simulating nature is already done every day in science labs around the world – simulations allow scientists to play around in ways that cannot be realised in an experiment, either because the experiment would be too difficult or expensive or even impossible. Feynman's insight was that simulations that inherently include quantum physics from the outset have the potential to tackle those otherwise impossible problems.
Quantum simulations have, in the past year, really taken off. The ability to delicately manipulate and measure systems containing just a few atoms is a requirement of any attempt at quantum simulation and it is thanks to recent technical advances that this is now becoming possible.
Most recently, in an article published in the journal Nature last week, physicists from the US, Australia and South Africa have teamed up to build a device capable of simulating a particular type of magnetism that is of interest to those who are studying high-temperature superconductivity. Their simulator is esoteric. It is a small pancake-like layer less than 1 millimetre across made from 300 beryllium atoms that is delicately disturbed using laser beams… and it paves the way for future studies into quantum magnetism that will be impossible using a classical computer.
It is one thing to build a dedicated simulator, aimed at tackling one particular scientific problem, but we can be more ambitious and try to build a general purpose computer that exploits quantum physics to perform a variety of otherwise impossible tasks. Simulating physical systems would be just one task suited to such a computer. We can liken that to what is done in computing today – modern computers don't just run simulations for scientists. The idea of a general-purpose quantum computer was first recognised in 1985 by Oxford physicist David Deutsch and today the race is on as groups around the world aim to figure out how best to build one.
At its heart, a quantum computer works with switches that do not only exist in "on" and "off" states but also in states that are simultaneously "on" and "off". They are known as qubits (pronounced "cubits") and by accounting for the dual nature of a qubit it becomes possible for a quantum computer to perform many calculations in parallel. Put simply, if a classical computer gives one answer if a switch is "on" and another when the switch is "off" then one would need to perform the calculation twice, once for each possibility, to collect both possible answers. With a quantum computer, the calculations can be done at the same time.
The real power of a quantum computer comes from manipulating several qubits at once. A computer operating on a mere 250 qubits (which could be encoded using 250 atoms) would require a classical computer built from all the atoms in the visible universe to encode the same information.
This is a field of research where progress is very rapid – important developments are a weekly occurrence – and right now the challenge is to build systems that can manipulate a handful of qubits without destroying their essential quantum nature. It is probably too soon to speculate on when the first full-scale quantum computer will be built but recent progress indicates that there is every reason to be optimistic.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
3D Computing - The Biggest Tech Breakthrough in 50 Years
EXTRACTED FROM AN ARTICLE
BY MICHAEL A. ROBINSON, Contributing Writer, Money Morning
APRIL 6, 2012
There are somewhere between two and three billion computers in the world right now.
And every last one is about to become obsolete.
Sorry, but yes, that goes for the computer you're using to read this.
It's a fundamental redesign of computing power that has been 50 years in the making.
You could probably manage to hang on to your current computer for a year or two, if you're patient.
I predict this key breakthrough technology will soon have a dramatic impact on everything from artificial intelligence and robotics to medical research to aerospace to gaming and beyond.
It's very rare that a new technology truly represents a "sea change" across so many industries and applications. The last one of this enormity was the advent of the transistor in the late 1950s - the basis of modern electronics and undoubtedly the greatest invention of the 20th century.
High Tech is About to Enter a Whole New Dimension
We're still waiting for atomic computing - computing technology in which devices are made up of just a few molecules - to enter the realm of possibility. But that's likely a decade or more off.
In the meantime, 3D computing is the breakthrough that will dominate the next decade, taking computing to a level almost unimaginable.
Now, you may already know that America's high-tech economy depends on devices - called microprocessors - that are about the size and shape of postage stamps. Ever since their invention, these chips have fueled huge growth in computing as electronics have gotten ever smaller.
Let me explain the importance of small scale.
It's thanks to the steadily shrinking size of these chips that your smart phone today packs more punch than the huge computers NASA had when it put Neil Armstrong on the moon. If they hadn't gotten smaller, cell phones would still be the size of bricks. And you could forget about having wireless Internet, built-in video cameras, or music players in your phone.
As it turns out, there's a principle that explains - or really predicts - this continued exponential growth in semiconductor speed and power.
It's called Moore's Law. A Silicon Valley legend, Gordon Moore predicted that processing power would double roughly every two years.
That doubling has come as engineers kept finding new ways to put more transistors on a single chip. Transistors are the tiny gizmos that move and store data. Today, semiconductors now boast more than one billion transistors - ones so small you can't see them without a microscope.
And therein lies the problem. Chip makers are simply running out of real estate.
Right now the physical limit of integrated circuits stems from their basic design. Since they're flat, they only work in two dimensions. And that's been standing in the way of Moore's prediction.
But what if you could stack transistors on top of each other? You would greatly increase computing capacity. Think of it this way. A file cabinet holds a lot more information than a single sheet of paper.
As basic as that sounds, engineers have only just now figured out to go 3D and add "drawers" filled with transistors.
And one company is debuting its new chips this summer.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) is synonymous with the computer revolution. How fitting then that the company is making what I believe is the biggest chip design breakthrough in 50 years.
You see, Intel just added "fins," or "pillars," that rise above a chip's flat surface. These fins allow data to move vertically as well as horizontally. Multiple fins crisscross the surface like a grid, boosting performance by 37% right out of the gate.
Not only that, but Intel's new 3D chips use half as much power, too. This is significant for two reasons.
• First is straight-up marketing. Environmentalists want computer firms to design systems that use less power in a bid to save the planet.
• More importantly, however, is the potential for new sales. In the past, Intel pushed speed over low-power chips. That's why it excels in desktops and laptops - where speed is crucial. But it's an also-ran in mobile phones, where makers are more concerned with heat and battery life. So, the new design will help grab sales in the mobile market. And it will push the rest of the chip industry to go 3D.
In electronics, of course, small is beautiful. How small? These days, computing is all about the nanometer. A nanometer is just another unit of measurement, like a foot or an inch. But we're talking very small units, indeed.
A human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide. The circuits in Intel's Tri-Gate chips measure just 22 nanometers across. Per Intel, that means more than six million of its transistors could be crammed into the period at the end of this sentence.
Yet in just five years, those circuits will be less than half that size.
Intel intends to use its "Tri-Gate" technology across its product lines. That covers the range from mobile-phone chips to those used in computer servers that power the Internet and the cloud. And what's more, by stacking transistors on top of each other, Intel will get continued increases in processing as its slims the chips down even further.
No less a luminary than Gordon Moore himself has weighed in on Intel's new design.
"For years we have seen limits to how small transistors can get," Moore said in a statement to the media. "This change in the basic structure is a truly revolutionary approach."
At this point, Intel is the clear leader of the pack in the 3D computing industry.
Intel microprocessors using Tri-Gate technology entered into mass production in the fall of 2011. Yet they will only begin making their way into the first round of laptop and desktops starting April 29, and rolling out over the summer, according to the latest reports from CPU World. From there, I expect 3D computing to explode on the scene.
Of course, the other players have no intention of letting Intel dominate the market.
Indeed, while Intel may be the first out of the gate with 3D chips, I believe International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) will perfect them.
Nobody thinks of this company as a growth play. Besides being one of the largest publicly traded tech firms in the world, it's a century old.
But when it comes to 3D computing, it is about to spark a revolution.
Right now IBM is working on a unique way of "stacking" up to 100 chips on top of each other. The company says the process will lead to electronic devices that run 1,000 times faster than what current technology allows.
Big Blue had succeeded in stacking chips several times in the past. There was just one problem - they didn't have the right type of glue that would allow them to scale up for production.
So, IBM forged a partnership with another tech giant, 3M Co. (NYSE:MMM), which has deep expertise in special material and adhesives. Working together, the two believe they can mass produce what amounts to computer towers on a single chip.
They say that in the very near future the technology will transform the capabilities of mobile phones, computers, gaming devices, and more.
Yet if the team only manages to hit 10% of its goal, the result will be a dramatic impact across the board. (Even 10 chips stacked vertically would create a powerful new wave of technology.)
One final note about IBM...
For decades, legendary investor Warren Buffett carefully avoided tech stocks at all costs, saying they were too exotic to understand.
But it seems recently the Oracle of Omaha discovered a profound truth: If you aren't invested in today's high-tech sector, you're leaving money on the table. A lot of it. Just a few months ago, in November 2011, Buffett plowed into the sector with a $10.7 billion investment in IBM, making a massive bet on high-tech.
Of course, we can't be sure that IBM's 3D advances are what made Buffett finally sit up and take notice... but it's clear they didn't scare him off.
This Ushers in a New Era of Moore's Law
I wrote this report on 3D computing because I believe it symbolizes the Era of Radical Change.
It all goes back to Moore's Law.
Computing power has doubled more than 25 times in the past 50 years. With 3D computing, those exponential increases will be able to keep up with Moore's Law. With Tri-Gate transistors, Intel claims to have extended Moore's at least another two years.
Whatever happens, it's clear that the years ahead will be like nothing we've seen before... and take the entire high-tech ecosystem to a whole new level.
Consider this...
Because of 3D computing, just one technological advance I'm tracking - one among many - the very near future is going to look a whole lot different.
Imagine one U.S. soldier able to control dozens of drones and robots at the same time from a device no bigger than a smart phone... An autonomous vehicle driving itself down a safe, high-tech highway... Some of your "coworkers" will be robots much "smarter" than humans... You'll have the ability to download a video library in a matter of seconds and store it on a flash drive the size of your pinkie finger... and doctors will augment your IQ with chips implanted in your brain that will give you the intelligence of 10 Albert Einsteins.
Here's a sample of the exciting tech on my investment radar screen:
• A new see-through computer screen that converts files into 3D images you can move with your hands.
• Solar panels constructed as mini-towers that deliver 20 times more power than conventional arrays.
• The microdevice that amounts to putting a human stomach on a chip.
• The device is actually lined with cells from the intestine and is designed to go inside the body to detect disease.
• Making a robotic spy "plane" the size of a hummingbird that flies like the real thing. The Pentagon paid a publicly traded, small-cap firm to develop what I predict will be the next generation of drone technology.
• Researchers are designing highways that act as charging stations to juice up electric vehicles - while the cars are still racing down the road.
• The trip from New York to Beijing could take just two hours, thanks to a novel transport tube that looks like something out of science fiction. Passenger capsules would float inside the tube, powered by exotic superconductors, and zoom people around the globe at speeds of up to 4,000 mph.
• Carbon nanotubes that can make objects appear invisible. In a project funded by the Pentagon, scientists found that bending light in certain ways created the "mirage" that objects weren't really there.
Currently, Intel and the IBM team have the design "edge" in the 3D computing world. But other companies are quickly developing their own ways to play this new technology. Take a look:
Applied Materials Inc. (NasdaqGS:AMAT) is collaborating with the Institute of Microelectronics in Singapore on 3D chip packaging. The two recently spent $100 million building the most advanced research facility of its kind. With 3D chip packaging, multiple chips can be stacked on top of each other and connected with wires that run vertically through the stack.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ): Under a new project code named "Corona," HP aims to create stackable 3D chips that communicate using built-in microscopic lasers, according to the online journal Endgadget. Currently targeted for release in 2015, this product would constitute a form of optical communications with blazing speeds, with the added benefit of reducing power consumption by as much as 80%.
Remember, we're still in the early stages of this revolution.
BY MICHAEL A. ROBINSON, Contributing Writer, Money Morning
APRIL 6, 2012
There are somewhere between two and three billion computers in the world right now.
And every last one is about to become obsolete.
Sorry, but yes, that goes for the computer you're using to read this.
It's a fundamental redesign of computing power that has been 50 years in the making.
You could probably manage to hang on to your current computer for a year or two, if you're patient.
I predict this key breakthrough technology will soon have a dramatic impact on everything from artificial intelligence and robotics to medical research to aerospace to gaming and beyond.
It's very rare that a new technology truly represents a "sea change" across so many industries and applications. The last one of this enormity was the advent of the transistor in the late 1950s - the basis of modern electronics and undoubtedly the greatest invention of the 20th century.
High Tech is About to Enter a Whole New Dimension
We're still waiting for atomic computing - computing technology in which devices are made up of just a few molecules - to enter the realm of possibility. But that's likely a decade or more off.
In the meantime, 3D computing is the breakthrough that will dominate the next decade, taking computing to a level almost unimaginable.
Now, you may already know that America's high-tech economy depends on devices - called microprocessors - that are about the size and shape of postage stamps. Ever since their invention, these chips have fueled huge growth in computing as electronics have gotten ever smaller.
Let me explain the importance of small scale.
It's thanks to the steadily shrinking size of these chips that your smart phone today packs more punch than the huge computers NASA had when it put Neil Armstrong on the moon. If they hadn't gotten smaller, cell phones would still be the size of bricks. And you could forget about having wireless Internet, built-in video cameras, or music players in your phone.
As it turns out, there's a principle that explains - or really predicts - this continued exponential growth in semiconductor speed and power.
It's called Moore's Law. A Silicon Valley legend, Gordon Moore predicted that processing power would double roughly every two years.
That doubling has come as engineers kept finding new ways to put more transistors on a single chip. Transistors are the tiny gizmos that move and store data. Today, semiconductors now boast more than one billion transistors - ones so small you can't see them without a microscope.
And therein lies the problem. Chip makers are simply running out of real estate.
Right now the physical limit of integrated circuits stems from their basic design. Since they're flat, they only work in two dimensions. And that's been standing in the way of Moore's prediction.
But what if you could stack transistors on top of each other? You would greatly increase computing capacity. Think of it this way. A file cabinet holds a lot more information than a single sheet of paper.
As basic as that sounds, engineers have only just now figured out to go 3D and add "drawers" filled with transistors.
And one company is debuting its new chips this summer.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) is synonymous with the computer revolution. How fitting then that the company is making what I believe is the biggest chip design breakthrough in 50 years.
You see, Intel just added "fins," or "pillars," that rise above a chip's flat surface. These fins allow data to move vertically as well as horizontally. Multiple fins crisscross the surface like a grid, boosting performance by 37% right out of the gate.
Not only that, but Intel's new 3D chips use half as much power, too. This is significant for two reasons.
• First is straight-up marketing. Environmentalists want computer firms to design systems that use less power in a bid to save the planet.
• More importantly, however, is the potential for new sales. In the past, Intel pushed speed over low-power chips. That's why it excels in desktops and laptops - where speed is crucial. But it's an also-ran in mobile phones, where makers are more concerned with heat and battery life. So, the new design will help grab sales in the mobile market. And it will push the rest of the chip industry to go 3D.
In electronics, of course, small is beautiful. How small? These days, computing is all about the nanometer. A nanometer is just another unit of measurement, like a foot or an inch. But we're talking very small units, indeed.
A human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide. The circuits in Intel's Tri-Gate chips measure just 22 nanometers across. Per Intel, that means more than six million of its transistors could be crammed into the period at the end of this sentence.
Yet in just five years, those circuits will be less than half that size.
Intel intends to use its "Tri-Gate" technology across its product lines. That covers the range from mobile-phone chips to those used in computer servers that power the Internet and the cloud. And what's more, by stacking transistors on top of each other, Intel will get continued increases in processing as its slims the chips down even further.
No less a luminary than Gordon Moore himself has weighed in on Intel's new design.
"For years we have seen limits to how small transistors can get," Moore said in a statement to the media. "This change in the basic structure is a truly revolutionary approach."
At this point, Intel is the clear leader of the pack in the 3D computing industry.
Intel microprocessors using Tri-Gate technology entered into mass production in the fall of 2011. Yet they will only begin making their way into the first round of laptop and desktops starting April 29, and rolling out over the summer, according to the latest reports from CPU World. From there, I expect 3D computing to explode on the scene.
Of course, the other players have no intention of letting Intel dominate the market.
Indeed, while Intel may be the first out of the gate with 3D chips, I believe International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) will perfect them.
Nobody thinks of this company as a growth play. Besides being one of the largest publicly traded tech firms in the world, it's a century old.
But when it comes to 3D computing, it is about to spark a revolution.
Right now IBM is working on a unique way of "stacking" up to 100 chips on top of each other. The company says the process will lead to electronic devices that run 1,000 times faster than what current technology allows.
Big Blue had succeeded in stacking chips several times in the past. There was just one problem - they didn't have the right type of glue that would allow them to scale up for production.
So, IBM forged a partnership with another tech giant, 3M Co. (NYSE:MMM), which has deep expertise in special material and adhesives. Working together, the two believe they can mass produce what amounts to computer towers on a single chip.
They say that in the very near future the technology will transform the capabilities of mobile phones, computers, gaming devices, and more.
Yet if the team only manages to hit 10% of its goal, the result will be a dramatic impact across the board. (Even 10 chips stacked vertically would create a powerful new wave of technology.)
One final note about IBM...
For decades, legendary investor Warren Buffett carefully avoided tech stocks at all costs, saying they were too exotic to understand.
But it seems recently the Oracle of Omaha discovered a profound truth: If you aren't invested in today's high-tech sector, you're leaving money on the table. A lot of it. Just a few months ago, in November 2011, Buffett plowed into the sector with a $10.7 billion investment in IBM, making a massive bet on high-tech.
Of course, we can't be sure that IBM's 3D advances are what made Buffett finally sit up and take notice... but it's clear they didn't scare him off.
This Ushers in a New Era of Moore's Law
I wrote this report on 3D computing because I believe it symbolizes the Era of Radical Change.
It all goes back to Moore's Law.
Computing power has doubled more than 25 times in the past 50 years. With 3D computing, those exponential increases will be able to keep up with Moore's Law. With Tri-Gate transistors, Intel claims to have extended Moore's at least another two years.
Whatever happens, it's clear that the years ahead will be like nothing we've seen before... and take the entire high-tech ecosystem to a whole new level.
Consider this...
Because of 3D computing, just one technological advance I'm tracking - one among many - the very near future is going to look a whole lot different.
Imagine one U.S. soldier able to control dozens of drones and robots at the same time from a device no bigger than a smart phone... An autonomous vehicle driving itself down a safe, high-tech highway... Some of your "coworkers" will be robots much "smarter" than humans... You'll have the ability to download a video library in a matter of seconds and store it on a flash drive the size of your pinkie finger... and doctors will augment your IQ with chips implanted in your brain that will give you the intelligence of 10 Albert Einsteins.
Here's a sample of the exciting tech on my investment radar screen:
• A new see-through computer screen that converts files into 3D images you can move with your hands.
• Solar panels constructed as mini-towers that deliver 20 times more power than conventional arrays.
• The microdevice that amounts to putting a human stomach on a chip.
• The device is actually lined with cells from the intestine and is designed to go inside the body to detect disease.
• Making a robotic spy "plane" the size of a hummingbird that flies like the real thing. The Pentagon paid a publicly traded, small-cap firm to develop what I predict will be the next generation of drone technology.
• Researchers are designing highways that act as charging stations to juice up electric vehicles - while the cars are still racing down the road.
• The trip from New York to Beijing could take just two hours, thanks to a novel transport tube that looks like something out of science fiction. Passenger capsules would float inside the tube, powered by exotic superconductors, and zoom people around the globe at speeds of up to 4,000 mph.
• Carbon nanotubes that can make objects appear invisible. In a project funded by the Pentagon, scientists found that bending light in certain ways created the "mirage" that objects weren't really there.
Currently, Intel and the IBM team have the design "edge" in the 3D computing world. But other companies are quickly developing their own ways to play this new technology. Take a look:
Applied Materials Inc. (NasdaqGS:AMAT) is collaborating with the Institute of Microelectronics in Singapore on 3D chip packaging. The two recently spent $100 million building the most advanced research facility of its kind. With 3D chip packaging, multiple chips can be stacked on top of each other and connected with wires that run vertically through the stack.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ): Under a new project code named "Corona," HP aims to create stackable 3D chips that communicate using built-in microscopic lasers, according to the online journal Endgadget. Currently targeted for release in 2015, this product would constitute a form of optical communications with blazing speeds, with the added benefit of reducing power consumption by as much as 80%.
Remember, we're still in the early stages of this revolution.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
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