An electronic device that builds itself. Sound fanciful? Not anymore. Scientists at the Technion - The Israel Institute of Technology - in Haifa have developed a nanoscale transistor that assembles itself using the building block proteins of DNA.
Erez Braun, lead scientist on the project and associate professor in the Faculty Physics at the Technion, conducted the research with colleagues Kinneret Keren, Rotem S. Berman, Evgeny Buchstab, and Uri Sivan. Their work was published in the November 21, 2003, issue of Science and has been greeted as leading news - and a crucial step - in the field of microelectronics.
"Erez Braun and his colleague Uri Sivan are some of the few pioneers in this field," said Horst Stormer, professor in Columbia University’s Departments of Physics and Applied Physics and scientific director of the Nano Science and Engineering Centers. "This is outstanding research in the area that matters most in nano technology: self-assembly."
Braun says science has been intrigued with the idea of using biology to build electronic transistors that assemble without human manipulation. However, until now, demonstrating it in the lab has remained elusive. "This paper shows you can start with DNA proteins and molecular biology and construct an electronic device," he said.
The advance may allow industry to produce the transistors for carbon-based computer chips that will be yet smaller - and hence faster and with more memory - than anything currently commercially feasible. Braun emphasized, however, that computers are only one application; these transistors may, for example, enable the creation of any number of devices in future applications, such as tiny sensors to perform diagnostic tests in healthcare.
Erez Braun, lead scientist on the project and associate professor in the Faculty Physics at the Technion, conducted the research with colleagues Kinneret Keren, Rotem S. Berman, Evgeny Buchstab, and Uri Sivan. Their work was published in the November 21, 2003, issue of Science and has been greeted as leading news - and a crucial step - in the field of microelectronics.
"Erez Braun and his colleague Uri Sivan are some of the few pioneers in this field," said Horst Stormer, professor in Columbia University’s Departments of Physics and Applied Physics and scientific director of the Nano Science and Engineering Centers. "This is outstanding research in the area that matters most in nano technology: self-assembly."
Braun says science has been intrigued with the idea of using biology to build electronic transistors that assemble without human manipulation. However, until now, demonstrating it in the lab has remained elusive. "This paper shows you can start with DNA proteins and molecular biology and construct an electronic device," he said.
The advance may allow industry to produce the transistors for carbon-based computer chips that will be yet smaller - and hence faster and with more memory - than anything currently commercially feasible. Braun emphasized, however, that computers are only one application; these transistors may, for example, enable the creation of any number of devices in future applications, such as tiny sensors to perform diagnostic tests in healthcare.