Might be interteresting to see where this goes in a few years.Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ - news) researchers created a computer-world frenzy with the recent announcement of a new invention designed to replace transistors on chips -- the fundamental building block of computers for the last half century. But is the buzz just bluff or the stuff of real scientific advancement? ...In a paper published in the Journal of Applied Physics, three members of HP Labs' Quantum Science Research (QSR) group described their invention as a "crossbar latch," which provides the signal restoration and inversion required for general computing without the need for transistors.
The technology could result in computers that are thousands of times more powerful than those that exist today. "We are re-inventing the computer at the molecular scale," says Stan Williams, HP senior fellow and QSR director, and one of the authors of the paper.
"The crossbar latch provides a key element needed for building a computer using nanometer-sized devices that are relatively inexpensive and easy to build," he added.
QSR works on nanoscale electronic devices that will first supplement, and someday perhaps replace, silicon technology, which is expected to reach its physical limits in about a decade. But, such a replacement could devastate chipmakers and turn the entire industry on its ear.
"Any truly new technology requires an entire industry to support it -- an entire new infrastructure -- and retooling takes years. Plus, products have to be adapted to be compatible to a radical change," Manny Vara, manufacturing side spokesperson for Intel, told NewsFactor.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... c_nf/30272
