Electronics

As nanotechnology has begun to grow in recent years there have been many more advances in computing and electronic devices. Almost every part of the electronic devices we have involve nanotech as our devices begin to get smaller, faster and lighter. Nanoelectronics hold the solution to getting the most out of our electronics. ‘Nanobits’ (nano materials) are making your computer and other devices like gaming consoles, faster and with more memory than what we have now. But more importantly, these technologies will gradually become cheaper to produce and therefore cheaper to buy.

Computers

There have been and there still is a lot of research going into the association of computers and nanotechnology. There are now microprocessors less than 100 nanometres (nm) in size and the smaller the processor is, the faster the processing times and more power can be put into the computer system. Improved computer screens using carbon nanotubes are also being developed and will improve colour and contrast. However there are theoretical limits to the computer memory and processor speed and these are quickly being reached and may be reached by 2018.

External hard drives could
become a thing of the past.

Memory

Nanotechnology can solve many of the current problems with memory storage. As the number of electronic products gets ever greater, there is increasing need for larger amounts of memory in smaller places. This can allow for lighter and slimmer products like the iPhone but without consuming a large amounts of energy. With our current technologies, these requirements are very hard to meet but nanotechnology can take us beyond this.

“Nanodots”

Magnified nanodots.

A possible new form of data storage is using nanosized bits of nickel called “nanodots”. They could be used to store terabytes of data and be used in homes and workplaces. There is much potential in this product given the current sizes of data storage devices we have at the moment such as USB and external hard drives. The difference between “nanodots” and our current hard drives is that the bits of information in the hard drives must be placed apart so as not to interfere with each other. But “nanodots” can operate completely as one linked unit so they can be packed closer together. This seems an innovative form of storage with gigabytes of potential.

W.G