Nanoelectronics Breakthrough Means Smaller, Smarter Devices

A nanoelectronics breakthrough could mean smaller, smarter devices, according to researchers.

A study published in Nature Communications sheds light on some of the issues faced by engineers when building molecular nanoelectronics, and presents them with a possible solution, Science Daily reported.

It turns out that by harnessing the quantum nature of electrons, engineers could store more information and create new engineering possibilities that could ultimately lead to the development of smarter and more efficient electronics.

The paper’s lead author, PhD student Andrew McRae, explained that researchers found they were able to control positively and negatively charged particles to behave the same way in very short carbon nanotube transistors.

“In particular, we have shown that in some devices of about 500 atoms long, the positive charges are more confined and act more like particles, while the negative charges are less well confined and act more like waves,” he said, per Science Daily.

Maximizing this could leave the door wide open for engineers, who could utilize the findings to develop a new generation of two-in-one quantum electronic devices that could impact quantum computing, radiation sensing and transistor electronics.

"The most exciting implications are for building quantum circuits with single devices that can either store or pass quantum information along with the flick of a switch," McRae said, per Science Daily.

Phys.org recently noted that progress in the technology lay increasingly in the ability to reliably manufacture working nanoscale devices.

By successfully achieving this, engineers would be able to make improvements not just in technology, but in various levels of modern life.

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