Sony develops electronic nose

NIKKEI NET reports today that Sony is working a smelling sensor as part of a collaborative project with the Max Planck Institute.

The report said that the "E-Nose" will use nano particles and have already managed to use the sensor to smell different kinds of coffee.

The E-Nose will have applications in the robotic industry.

A separate report said that the Material Science Labs of Sony in Europe is also collaborating with European universities to make large, nanotechnology, memory chips.

These, said the report, will use five nanometer long semiconductor particles inserted into DNA or proteins.

Unlike the E-Nose, such technology appears to be some way away - perhaps as long as 10 years.

But the development of DNA based memory chips will solve the kind of problems associated with high resolution lithography, which is currently exercising the mind of Intel and other chip manufacturers. µ

* ANOTHER REPORT on Nikkei Net said that the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology will show a method for making 15 nanometer double gate transistors at the International Electron Devices conference that starts early next week in San Francisco.