On October 1st 2015, IBM announced that they had made a breakthrough in their efforts to continue the miniaturization of computer chips. A $3 billion project has helped researchers develop computer chips that are made of carbon nanotubes. Current silicon based technology has been swiftly approaching a barrier to further chip miniaturization, due to the inability to continue to scale transistors. Carbon nanotubes have solved this problem.
Nanotubes are hollow cylinders with walls that are made of a single layer of carbon atoms aligned in a hexagonal lattice. The lattice is 10,000 times smaller than a human hair and looks like a tiny roll of chicken wire. Electrons in carbon transistors move freer and easier than in silicon based devices, which allows for quicker transport of data. An advantage of using nanotubes, is that they can be shaped for transistors at the atomic level.
Transistor gate and contact length have been the two major issues in regard to chip scalability. The gate issue was solved by IBM two years ago. IBM has now solved the contact length issue by shrinking down the contact length to 9nm, without any increase in resistance. IBM scientists say that at maximum power, the carbon nanotube chips could run at significantly faster speeds.
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