The Nanotube Computer Debuts

The world’s first computer built with carbon nanotubes has been unveiled by researchers at Stanford University (Nature 2013, DOI: 10.1038/nature12502). The machine—albeit very limited in function—is a major step toward energy-efficient alternatives to the silicon-based electronic components that dominate the computing landscape today. Computer technology has long followed Moore’s law, the prediction that every two years electronics firms will be able to double the number of transistors—the semiconducting building blocks of circuits—packed onto their chips. This increase has enabled computers and other electronics, such as smartphones, to become progressively smaller and faster. But that progression isn’t sustainable, experts say. As silicon-based transistors have become smaller, they’ve also become less efficient conductors, wasting energy and emitting heat. Enter the carbon nanotube. Scientists have long considered replacing silicon-based circuit elements with nanotubes because the tiny tubes transport e...