- COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish scientists said on Monday they had created
a chip where a single atom jumping back and forth could generate the binary
code which is the basis of digital information used by computers.
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- Applying this technique -- which might
only become commercially viable in a decade or two -- information stored
today on one million CD-roms could be stored on a single disc, physics
doctor Francois Grey, the team leader, told Reuters by telephone. ``Society
seems to find use for this,'' he said, referring to the search for e ver
smaller units in various technological applications. Using a scanning-tunnelling
microscope, a four-man team at the microelectronics centre of the Danish
University of Technology was able to remove from a hydrogen layer surface
on a silicon chip one of a pair of hydrogen atoms attached to one silicon
atom, leaving the remaining hydrogen atom jumping back and forth.
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- ``This shows you can do it with the material
in a controlled way,'' Grey said, noting the experiment had been completed
successfully in normal room temperature. Hydrogen-covered silicon chips
are standard in modern computers.
-
- Grey's team removed the hydrogen atom
in an ultra-high vacuum chamber to keep the surface absolutely clean. This
was one reason why the application may not be viable for practical use
any time soon, he said.
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- ``This is basic research. It is not something
you can put in a computer tomorrow,'' he said. Scientists elsewhere had
conducted similar experiments making single atoms jump back and forth,
but their work was done with material frozen to near absolute zero temperature.
The Danish team was the first to have succeeded in room temperature, Grey
said.
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