...new Supercomputer Can Do 50 Trillion Operations (10 exp12) Per Second...
It seems we are getting there slowly.
Posted on 01/30/2011 11:18:33 AM PST by decimon
Smaller and more energy-efficient electronic chips could be made using molybdenite, a material developed in Switzerland
Smaller and more energy-efficient electronic chips could be made using molybdenite. In an article appearing online January 30 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, EPFL's Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) publishes a study showing that this material has distinct advantages over traditional silicon or graphene for use in electronics applications.
A discovery made at EPFL could play an important role in electronics, allowing us to make transistors that are smaller and more energy efficient. Research carried out in the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES) has revealed that molybdenite, or MoS2, is a very effective semiconductor. This mineral, which is abundant in nature, is often used as an element in steel alloys or as an additive in lubricants. But it had not yet been extensively studied for use in electronics.
100,000 times less energy
"It's a two-dimensional material, very thin and easy to use in nanotechnology. It has real potential in the fabrication of very small transistors, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar cells," says EPFL Professor Andras Kis, whose LANES colleagues M. Radisavljevic, Prof. Radenovic et M. Brivio worked with him on the study. He compares its advantages with two other materials: silicon, currently the primary component used in electronic and computer chips, and graphene, whose discovery in 2004 earned University of Manchester physicists André Geim and Konstantin Novoselov the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.
One of molybdenite's advantages is that it is less voluminous than silicon, which is a three-dimensional material. "In a 0.65-nanometer-thick sheet of MoS2, the electrons can move around as easily as in a 2-nanometer-thick sheet of silicon," explains Kis. "But it's not currently possible to fabricate a sheet of silicon as thin as a monolayer sheet of MoS2." Another advantage of molybdenite is that it can be used to make transistors that consume 100,000 times less energy in standby state than traditional silicon transistors. A semi-conductor with a "gap" must be used to turn a transistor on and off, and molybdenite's 1.8 electron-volt gap is ideal for this purpose.
Better than graphene
In solid-state physics, band theory is a way of representing the energy of electrons in a given material. In semi-conductors, electron-free spaces exist between these bands, the so-called "band gaps." If the gap is not too small or too large, certain electrons can hop across the gap. It thus offers a greater level of control over the electrical behavior of the material, which can be turned on and off easily.
The existence of this gap in molybdenite also gives it an advantage over graphene. Considered today by many scientists as the electronics material of the future, the "semi-metal" graphene doesn't have a gap, and it is very difficult to artificially reproduce one in the material.
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For more information:
Nature Nanotechnology: http://www.nature.com/nnano/index.html
Direct link to the article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.279
Contact: Professor Andras Kis, Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES), andras.kis@epfl.ch, tel: +41 21 693 39 25
Other links:
Groups which were involved in or supported this research:
LANES (http://lanes.epfl.ch)
LBEN (http://lben.epfl.ch)
European Research Council (http://erc.europa.eu/)
I wish that was all I paid for; my tax bill would be 1/20th of its current size. Instead, I'm stuck paying for what millions of other incompetent, greedy or lazy people did or didn't "do".
Climax, Colorado
The Climax mine, located in Climax, Colorado, United States, was a major molybdenum mine in Lake and Summit counties, Colorado. In its heyday, the Climax mine was the largest molybdenum mine in the world, and for many years it supplied three-fourths of the world's supply of the metal. The mine is currently (2010) inactive, but may reopen when the economy recovers
“transistors that consume 100,000 times less energy”
Well there you go. Greenistors.
Wilderness values is Utopian nonsense.. democrat double-talk.. progressive propaganda.
ping
Well there you go. Greenistors.
Less energy consumed should mean less heat produced. When reading about Intel's and AMD's new architectures, I read that large server operations are, if you will, hot for those architectures for their consuming less electricity and producing less heat.
—the milling part of the operation is being rebuilt and they are advertising for miners-—if I wasn’t seventy I’d go back in a minute—worked there 17 years-—
Did or do you know Harry Smith of BV ?
—name is familiar—I left in 1977 before the bust-—
This is a press release.
I am still waiting for the various Algea to gasoline press releases to make any impact.
Thanks decimon. I’m just glad it wasn’t another graphene topic. ;’)
Yeah, that graphene sex and violence is getting out of hand.
It sure would be cool to have a bandgap reference made out of MoS2. You could have a stable, temperature-proportional voltage reference without current mirrors which add noise.
But a true Conservative is intelligent and principled enough to both mine and preserve the environment, (i.e. resoil, replant, and effectively remove toxic waste). A good Conservative is conservative with the environment. We ARE the champions!
[ But a true Conservative is intelligent and principled enough to both mine and preserve the environment ]
A true conservative is not conservative but a radical..
They want radical change in Washington D.C. not conservative change..
The word conservative was invented by progressives to highlight their enemies..
Conservatives (that use this word) have been brain washed by liberal progressives..
And most are ignorant of this or deny it..
People “you know”..... LIKE YOU..
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