World's first computer devoid of silicon shows it is possible to replace it someday: Researchers

RESEARCHERS have built a computer from scratch without silicon, a "milestone" in showing that it is possible to one day replace the material that fuelled the bulk of technology advancements over the past half a century, by making devices smaller and faster.

- KRISHNA

Built at a nanofabrication unit at The Pennsylvania State University in the US, the research team has demonstrated the successful working of the world's first CMOS computer made using two-dimensional materials, which are paper-thin, but at the nano-level. It is described in a paper in the journal Nature.

'Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor', or CMOS, is widely used in designing electronic circuits. It consumes low power and accommodates more components.

The development is acknowledged as pioneering and a starting point in creating not just alternatives to silicon, but a roadmap for a new generation of still smaller, more flexible electronics.

Saptarshi Das, professor of engineering science and mechanics at the The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), and lead researcher on the paper, told PTI, "In the short term, you would like to augment silicon with these two-dimensional (2D) materials, because they offer new functionalities -- including in sensors and memory devices.

"This is why our paper is, I would say, a milestone, because it shows that it is possible in a way to replace silicon one day," Das said.

Silicon, whose conductivity can be manipulated for controlling electricity flow, has been foundational in advancing technology by helping electronics shrink in size, since 1947 when a transistor was first made using the material.