Replacing COPPER conductors with NANOTUBES

The life of the silicon chip industry

components to silicon chips to increase computer capability. Because copper’s
resistance to electricity increases greatly as the metal’s dimensions decreases there is a limit to how small copper conductors can be.
In contrast, extremely tiny carbon nanotubes can substitute for copper conductors in smaller computer chip electronic configurations because carbon nanotube electrical resistance is not high.
The new process includes ‘growing’ microscopic, whisker-like carbon nanotubes on the surface of a silicon wafer by means of a chemical process. Researchers deposit a layer of silica over the nanotubes grown on the chip to fill the spaces between the tubes. Then the surface is polished flat.Scientists can build more multiple, cake-like layers with vertical carbon nanotube ‘wires’ that can interconnect layers of electronics that made up the chip

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