If you ever thought that it would be cool to one day live through the age when Star Trek type technology was available, I have just the story for you. A breakthrough from Purdue University offers up a new technique that uses lasers and holograms to position multiple nanoparticles within seconds, much faster than previously possible. The method could also be very helpful to labs on the chip, which need to direct tiny molecules to tiny test locations.
Companies such as AMD or Intel are always looking for ways to create smaller components on chips. Especially with chips becoming more and more complex, such as dual and quad core processors, also with the coming AMD Fusion where a chip will not only have multiple cores and memory controllers, but also graphics chips along with hardware accelerators. The increasing complexity of computer processors is leaving us with several problems. Not only do we need to find ways to create smaller dies, but we need to be able to create more flexible building situations.
The holographic nanoassembly process allows for very complex designs to be created quickly, and in a versatile environment. Because the process was developed at a school, I wouldn’t look to see the new technology in commercial use for several years, but don’t be surprised when the day comes that we have entire motherboards worth of components on a single chip and only need traditional “motherboards” for a place to attach add-ons.
