Computer heal thyself
Researchers are investigating new ways to make computer chips in an effort to increase processing speed. It is likely that these new methods, such as chemical fabrication and assembly, will produce la...
Challenges in the nanoworld
Sometime early in the next century the miniaturization of conventional electronic devices will grind to a halt. The inexorable progress that has seen the number of transistors on a single silicon chip...
Nanotransistors at room temperature
The biggest challenge in making a single-molecule device is achieving electrical contact between individual molecules. Now new techniques that vaporize carbon to form nanotubes, and deposit material o...
Plessey sold to Mitel
Plessey will join Mitel’s semiconductor division to form one of the world’s top ten manufacturers of communication semiconductors. Plessey is the 11th company that GEC has sold since Septe...
Parallel processing on a chip
Many businesses are now using desktop computers linked together to replace their old mainframe systems. These machines divide up complex problems into smaller ‘chunks’ which are then fed t...
Organic laser breakthrough
Organic lasers are attractive for optical applications because they are inexpensive to manufacture, can be grown as thin films and have good temperature stability. Results from the Princeton team sugg...
Physicist shares Japan Prize
Leo Esaki, the physicist who is president of the University of Tsukuba, is one of the joint winners of this year's Japan Prize
Carbon-based electronics
In addition to being very strong and flexible, carbon nanotubes also have unusual electronic properties. Nanotubes are described by two numbers, conventionally m and n, and a specific nanotube can be ...
Shady solar outhouses
The US Forest Service has recently installed solar outhouses, but positioned some of them in the shade
Flatter TV displays
The cathode ray tube may make a comeback in the TV display wars, with a new amorphic diamond film
