IBM Develops Self-Organizing DNA Micro Chips

Scientists at IBM Research today announced a new breakthrough advancement in the semiconductor industry which will allow manufactures to pack more power and speed into chips while at the same time making them much more energy efficient and less expensive to manufacture.

In today's world the semiconductor industry, the one that creates chips for computers and electronics, is faced with a challenge of developing chips smaller than 22nm (nanometers) and exploring new classes of transistors that employ carbon nanotubes or silicon nanowires. BMs approach of using DNA molecules as scaffolding -- where millions of carbon nanotubes could be deposited and self-assembled into precise patterns by sticking to the DNA molecules may provide a way to reach sub-22 nm lithography.

The utility of this approach lies in the fact that the positioned DNA nanostructures can serve as scaffolds, or miniature circuit boards, for the precise assembly of components such as carbon nanotubes, nanowires and nanoparticles at dimensions significantly smaller than possible with conventional semiconductor fabrication techniques. This opens up the possibility of creating functional devices that can be integrated into larger structures, as well as enabling studies of arrays of nanostructures with known coordinates.

What does all of this mean for you and me? Faster, cheaper, and more efficient computers in the future. I wouldn't get too excited because the technology is still as far as 10 years away from actually being used and mass produced in the market place.

"The cost involved in shrinking features to improve performance is a limiting factor in keeping pace with Moores Law and a concern across the semiconductor industry," said Spike Narayan, manager, Science & Technology, IBM Research - Almaden. "The combination of this directed self-assembly with today's fabrication technology eventually could lead to substantial savings in the most expensive and challenging part of the chip-making process."

The findings and research will be published in the September issue of Nature Nanotechnology.