Big Blue gets closer to making atom sized computers
BIG BLUE BOFFINS have come up with a way of taking snaps of the chemical structure of an individual molecule.
The achievement means that it's getting closer to building computing elements at the atomic scale.
These will of course be vastly smaller, faster and more energy-efficient than all previous generations of processors and memory chips.
IBM has been trying to work out a way of taking pictures of individual atoms within a molecule since 1945.
Scientists In Zurich, Switzerland, have, for the first time, imaged the "anatomy", or chemical structure, of an individual molecule with "unprecedented" resolution, using noncontact atomic force microscopy (AFM).
This is basically an atomically sharp metal tip terminated with a carbon monoxide molecule.
IBM said that the atomic force microscopy was done in an ultrahigh vacuum and at very low temperatures (5 Kelvin equals minus 268 degrees Centigrade or minus 451 degrees Fahrenheit).
This is about the same temperature as a British beach in summer and means that scientists could "to look through the electron cloud and see the atomic backbone of an individual molecule for the first time."
The first picture was probably of the atom sticking two electrons behind the nucleus of another atom and smirking. µ
Share this:
ShareBusiness Intelligence Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Accounting Software
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Systems Management
Nick, you made me laugh 4 times today, keep it up, the last articles were great.
There were two electrons on the beach at Brighton,one said to the other, "are you AC, or DC"?
A third one quips..."I'm FREE!"
A hydrogen atom is walking down the street with a friend when he suddenly stops.
The friend says, "What's wrong?"
The hydrogen atom replies, "I lost my electron!"
The friend says, "Are you sure?"
The hydrogen atom exclaims, "Yes, I'm positive."
The friend laments, "Oh, I thought you were just being negative again."
This is very exciting technology. IBM is traditionally, in top of the patent filings. The patent system allows for them to make these advances and instead of keeping them secret disclose them to the public. www.beckthomas.com
The patent system is a very effective way of encouraging valuable research in science and technology.
It's just a shame that it is also being misused as a tool to screw money out of open systems of the world by corporate scum, patent trolls, greedy law firms, and their corrupt government allies.
Leaving genuinely honest people, like the open source movement, heath care systems of third world countries and the organic farming industry, to suffer at their hands.
Once the patent system has been cleaned up and returned to the purpose it was originally design for, it will be something to be proud of again.