24 Aug 2004
Ability to create nothing could revolutionize nanocircuits

If you can't figure out why I put this (rather seriously "cheerleading tech") article in my 'Humor' category, read the headline again. Slowly. Think: 'Creation of nothing' is an oxymoron. Creating requires an object - something to be created. Removing something doesn't create anything. Uh, wait a minute ... isn't that really the same as "creating nothing"? Or is it just a double negative in disguise? Only the English professors know for sure. Except at Cornell.

Time is fast running out for the semiconductor industry as transistors become ever smaller and their insulating layers of silicon dioxide, already only atoms in thickness, reach maximum shrinkage. In addition, the thinner the silicon layer becomes, the greater the amount of chemical dopants that must be used to maintain electrical contact. And the limit here also is close to being reached. But a Cornell University researcher has caused an information industry buzz with the discovery that it is possible to precisely control the electronic properties of a complex oxide material -- a possible replacement for silicon insulators -- at the atomic level. And this can be done without chemicals. Instead, the dopant is precisely nothing.

(link) [Science Blog]

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