Electronics is handshaking with Nano and Bio buddies

2011-12-06T09:21:00.001-08:00


Spinning Carbon nanotube showcases 3D structure

It is the matter of fact that the development and advancement in the field of Electronics is going in an exponential manner. The subject itself is now increasingly covering the different areas. The nano technology and the biotechnology are mostly considered to be the best friends of the amazingly developing Electronics field.

Nanoelectronics refer to the use of nanotechnology on electronic components, especially transistors. Although the term nanotechnology is generally defined as utilizing technology less than 100 nm in size, nanoelectronics often refer to transistor devices that are so small that inter-atomic interactions and quantum mechanical properties need to be studied extensively. As a result, present transistors do not fall under this category, even though these devices are manufactured with 45 nm, 32 nm, or 22 nm technology.Nanoelectronics holds the promise of making computer processors more powerful than are possible with conventional semiconductor fabrication techniques.

The time is near when the Biodigital world kisses the mankind. Yes, the fusion of the digital and the bio world will give rise to Biodigital World the near future. The development of human brain cells in an IC will be very common to us. This biodigital world is luring many of the electronics and bio engineers as well as people from other sectors for investment.

learn more about biodigital world by watching the video below:

New efforts to extend Moore's Law

2011-12-05T11:28:00.001-08:00

Continually needing to add computing power to its microprocessors, Santa Clara behemoth Intel (INTC) this year announced it was venturing beyond its traditional method of cramming more and more transistors into a flat pieces of silicon in favor of a different approach -- building chips in three dimensions.

With the 3-D devices slated to show up in personal computers this spring, Intel CEO Paul Ottlina recently exulted that the technology would pay dividends "for generations to come."

Yet even as he said that, his company and others were actively exploring other ways to keep up with the increasing data demands of the myriad consumer gadgets hitting the markets these days. And if the remarkable prescience of Moore's Law is any guide, they stand a good chance of being successful -- at least for a few more years.

Gordan Moore

Initially postulated in 1965 by Intel co-founder and then-CEO Gordon Moore, the law forecast that the number of tiny transistors squeezed onto chips would roughly double annually, a prediction he later changed to every two years. And despite critics who have repeatedly voiced doubts about the plausibility of shrinking components any more, the industry has proved over and over that the law has plenty of life left in it.

"All rumors of its death have been completely exaggerated," said Liam Madden, a vice president at San Jose-based chipmaker Xilinx, which recently claims to have made "a bold step into the era of 3-D" with one of its own chip designs. While steadily reducing chip components has posed monumental challenges, he added, "amazingly, we always seem to be able to pull it off in the end."

In 2005, the transistors in one of Intel's most advanced microprocessors were 90 nanometers wide, more than 1,000 times thinner than the width of a human hair. Today, Intel is selling chips that are 32 nanometers wide and will have 22-nanometer versions incorporating its 3-D technology on the market soon.

Among the various chip-making technologies being explored, 3-D has generated particular industry interest.In traditional flat-chip transistors, an insulated gate turns electrical signals on and off to produce the "ones" and "zeros" that constitute digital information. But the transistors tend to leak current, wasting energyWith Intel's so-called Tri-Gate chip, the transistor is built with tiny upraised fins, which guide the current along a three-dimensional channel. That helps the gate take maximum advantage of the flowing current while limiting leaks, the company contends. In addition, the design makes it possible to pack more transistors closely together, enabling Intel to put 2.9 billion of them on a chip about the size of a dime.

IBM and 3M also are intrigued with the concept and in September announced they are working jointly to make "silicon towers," with up to 100 chips. Using a 3M adhesive that diverts heat from the chips so their circuity isn't damaged, the semiconductor mini-skyscraper "would create a computer chip 1,000 times faster than today's fastest microprocessor," enabling more powerful smartphones, tablets, PCs and gaming devices, the companies said.

Because the copper connections used in chips today can become overloaded, degrading electronic signals, another way some companies hope to advance Moore's Law is by shuttling information around with beams of light.

In July, Intel said it had developed a prototype fingernail-size "silicon photonic link," comprised of mini lasers, which could send 100 hours of digital music from one device to another in a second. Although the Santa Clara company said a commercial version wouldn't be available for several years, it eventually expects to make a chip with the ability to transmit the Library of Congress's entire printed collection in less than two minutes.

Infinera of Sunnyvale already sells equipment containing photonic chips it developed to cable companies, Internet content providers and others who transmit data across fiber-optic networks. Referencing Moore's Law in its most recent annual report, the company said it expects to double the data-carrying capacity of its photonic chips every three years.

Such improvements are essential given the enormous increases in information being passed around by Infinera's customers, according to Gaylord Hart, marketing director for the company's cable business. "It's being driven largely by increased telecommunications and Internet access, and certainly video is the largest bandwidth driver," he said.

Other companies exploring photonics include Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). But the Palo Alto tech giant also is working on something called "memristors" with South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor.

Because memristors function on the principal that electrical resistance increases when current flows through a device one way and decreases when it flows the opposite direction, HP believes memristors could be turned into tiny electrical switches, reducing the number of transistors traditionally used on chips, while boosting the chip's processing power.

While other materials eventually may be determined to be superior, HP already has successfully made memristor switches from titanium dioxide on a layer of platinum and placed it within a tiny grid of wires, said Stan Williams, an HP senior fellow and director of the company's nanoelectronics research group.

By running current through a part of the titanium dioxide where oxygen atoms were removed -- slightly altering its resistance -- HP has caused the memristor to open and close like a switch, a technical success that Williams said eventually might enable memristor-populated grids to be programmed to store and process information.

Noting that it may be possible to replace a dozen transistors in certain types of circuits with a single memristor no bigger than about 3 nanometers wide -- roughly nine atoms -- he said, "we can easily see factors-of-10 improvements in certain types of chips" using such a switch.

But Williams cautioned that it would be physically impossible to build anything smaller than an atom, even with memristors. And while no one knows when the limit will be reached for shrinking chips under Moore's Law, "we are very close," he said. "There is not that much room to go."

CREATING MOORE'S LAW
Nearly a half-century ago, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore foresaw a future filled with remarkable devices made possible by cramming microchips with an increasing array of transistors, tiny components that amplify and switch electronic signals.
In a 1965 Electronics Magazine article, he first postulated that the number of chip transistors would roughly double every year, though in 1975 he revised that to every two years. So far, his prediction has largely proved correct. Intel's first microprocessor in 1971 contained 2,300 transistors. That number had risen to 275,000 by 1985, to 42 million by 2000, to 592 million by 2004 and to nearly 3 billion today.

by Steve Johnson

Advance Electronics Lab

2011-12-04T03:58:00.001-08:00

Follow the link below to download the ADVANCED ELECTRONICS LABSHEET.

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Instrumentation II (lab 2)

2011-12-04T03:30:00.001-08:00

Friends, Kishor Sir has provided us the labsheet of Instrumentation II (lab2 ).

Follow the link below to download the labsheet.

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Constructicon robots being developed

2011-12-02T11:10:00.001-08:00

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10 Gadgets That Defined 2011

2011-12-02T10:56:00.001-08:00

The year 2011 is at its end. We saw lots of gadgets entering into the common people's living and many old one's got out of the field too. The evaluation of the best gadgets are being done by many people these days.

Follow the link below to learn more about the matter:-

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Introduction to the Blog

2011-11-30T20:29:00.001-08:00

Well ,friends this is one of the blogs that we students of Pulchowk Engineering College have created.

You will be provided with various information of different faculties ,direct links to the various sites in the internet

and others features will also be added as per need.

Engineering Fellows