Researchers have developed a programmable nanoprocessor made up of tiny nanowires whose computing functions can be changed by applying small electric currents.
The nanoprocessor was developed by researchers from Harvard University in collaboration with MITRE, a non-profit organisation funded by the US government.
The ultra-tiny nanocircuits can be programmed electronically to perform a number of different basic arithmetic and logical functions.
The team of researchers has been successful in assembling the ultra-tiny circuits on a tiny "tile" from sets of fabricated germanium-silicon wires, surrounded by insulating shells of metal oxides.
With a total diameter of only 30 nanometers, the architecture of the tiles allows a number of them to be connected to assemble even more capable nanoprocessors that could.
Due to nonvolatile transistor switches in component nanometer-scale wires of the circuits, the nanoprocessor operates using very little power.
MITRE lead engineer Shamik Das said because of their very small size and very low power requirements, these new nanoprocessor circuits are building blocks that can control and enable an entirely new class of much smaller, lighter weight electronic sensors and consumer electronics.
Nanosystems Group chief scientist James Ellenbogen said this new nanoprocessor represents a major milestone toward realising the vision of a nanocomputer that was first articulated more than fifty years ago by physicist Richard Feynman.
Ellenbogen is a member of the development team at MITRE, which collaborated with a five-person team at Harvard, led by Charles Lieber, an investigator in the field of nanotechnology, especially for nanowire-based technology.
