Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Hardware
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

Computing With Molecules

June 24, 2002 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Several years ago, Hewlett-Packard Co. built a 256-processor computer, but 220,000 of its parts were defective. HP was thrilled with the results.


The computer was built by HP Labs, HP's central research operation, using ordinary but faulty silicon chips, as part of its program in molecular computing. It proved that clever software can allow a computer to work even when many of its components are defective. That ability will be necessary for the construction of computers whose parts are so tiny that their reliability can't be assured.


"We know [that] at the molecular scale, there will be defects," says R. Stanley Williams, director of quantum science research at HP Labs in Palo Alto, Calif. "We won't attempt to build perfect circuits like Intel does."


For three decades, silicon chips have doubled in transistor density and performance every 18 months. But experts say that the laws of quantum physics will make further improvements impractical in about 10 years.


Researchers at HP and elsewhere are betting that tiny switches built from single molecules - many thousands of times smaller than a silicon transistor - will save the day. Molecular technology could be used to build supercomputers the size of wristwatches and diagnostic sensors that could be injected into the bloodstream, they predict.


The machines HP Labs is working on use switches made of molecules of rotaxane, an organic chemical. The company has already demonstrated a simple, one-function molecular switch, and it's now working on a circuit that will combine two Boolean operators, such as "and" and "or."


In a molecular switch, a molecule is trapped between two wires. A voltage applied across the wires changes the shape of the molecule, which in turn alters its electrical resistance. When the resistance is low, the switch is considered closed, representing a logical 1. When the resistance is high, the switch is open, representing a logical 0.


Power to Match Intel 4004


Williams says he hopes to make a molecular processor as powerful as the Intel 4004 chip "in a few years time." (The 4004, developed in 1969, was a four-bit, 104-KHz silicon device with 2,300 transistors.) Microprocessors based on molecular-scale switches will pass silicon in capability in 10 to 15 years, Williams predicts.


Organic molecules can serve as storage devices as well as switches. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which is working with HP, recently demonstrated a primitive memory built from these molecules.


Williams says he hopes to build an experimental memory device made of molecular switches that can store 1 trillion bits in one square centimeter within seven years. That's about 1,000 times denser than today's silicon memory chips.



Jump to comments

Hardware

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER
Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.
WHITE PAPER
Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.
WHITE PAPER
Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Faster, Cheaper and Easier to Maintain
Can you afford not to upgrade your servers to today's advanced, energy-efficient technologies?  

Do more with less thru Netcool?
Learn how IBM Tivoli® Netcool® solutions can help service providers streamline their operations, improve responsiveness and reduce costs.  

Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!

IDC report: Profitability and OSS Support: A Return on Investment Analysis of IBM Tivoli Netcool
IDC studied 14 mobile and fixed-line service providers that implemented Tivoli® Netcool® and found that IBM Tivoli Netcool can help in big ways.  

Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.

IBM Systems Makeover Analysis for Oracle Environments
This brochure shows how the IBM Systems Makeover Analysis takes a look at your current Oracle hardware infrastructure, then proposes a high-level future...  

Lower your IT costs and risks: Get a server makeover
Find out how a server makeover analysis can help you develop a high-level roadmap for your infrastructure.  

Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.