Energy efficiency is the most significant challenge standing in
the way of continued miniaturization of electronic systems, and
miniaturization is the principal driver of the semiconductor
industry. “As we approach the ultimate limits of Moore’s Law ,
however, silicon will have to be replaced in order to
miniaturize further,” said Jeffrey Bokor, deputy director for
science at the Molecular Foundry at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory and Professor at UC-Berkeley. A team of
Stanford engineering professors, doctoral students,
undergraduates, and high-school interns, led by Professors
Subhasish Mitra and H.-S. Philip Wong , took on the challenge
and has produced a series of breakthroughs that represent the
most advanced computing and storage elements yet created. Since
nanotube transistors were demonstrated in 1998, researchers
imagined a new age of highly efficient, advanced computing
electronics. That promise, however, is yet to be realized due to
substantial material imperfections inherent to nanotube