Fabrication cost key to implementing nanotechnology

Nanotechnology: Replicating the Snowflake in the Fab, an article by Jeff Chappell in the Electronic News, reports the remarks of Thomas Theis, director of physical sciences for IBM research, in a keynote address at the SPIE Microlithography Conference, that containing the cost of fabrication may be the key to implementing nanotechnology in the information technology business. Nanotechnology: Replicating the Snowflake in the Fab quotes Theis that "Silicon will go to the molecular level," producing silicon transistors with gates as small as 1 nm. Theis suggested that silicon technology will remain pervasive even if the cutting edge made use of things like carbon nanotubes, nanomechanical data storage, and molecular cascade logic. Noting that a snowflake forms by naturally occurring self-assembly, "What we really need to do is figure out how to implement these in the highly hierarchical field of information technology."