Scientists at the Stanford University announce the development of the first three-dimensional, carbon nanotube-based circuits in the world. This groundbreaking achievement marks a milestone in the industry, as it means that CNT-based computers, which will consume a lot less power, and also be far faster than the existing silicon-based technology, could soon become a reality. Over the past few years, efforts to integrate CNT into circuits, transistors and other electronic devices have been on the rise, but the world-class team at Stanford was the one that managed the performance of being the first.

What the university's researchers basically demonstrated was the fact that chips in which multiple layers of carbon nanotubes could be stacked on top of each other were possible. Existing silicon processors only work when placed side by side, as in dual- or quad-core computers. This setup means that they have to consume a lot of electrical energy, and also that they generate more heat. The latter tends to destabilize the electronic components once a temperature of around 85 degrees Celsius is obtained.

According to Technology Review, more processing power can be stacked in the same area by using a three-dimensional arrangement, in which height is also exploited. In conventional devices, only width and length are taken into account when designing the next processor generations. Waste heat was one of the main problems that experts had to deal with when pondering the 3D innovation, and it would seem that they managed to overcome this obstacle as well.

“We can make silicon transistors smaller and smaller, but at extremely small dimensions they don't show the desired performance anymore. We are looking to alternative materials that can be scaled more aggressively but still maintain device performance,” IBM Watson Research Center carbon technology manager Zhihong Chen says. Researchers at the company have recently been able to demonstrate that a circuit based on carbon nanotubes is about five times faster than a silicon circuit.