Nanoscale microprocessors could get a big performance boost from a technique that enables semiconducting materials to be doped with useful impurities one ion at a time, with nanoscale accuracy.

The “single ion implantation” (SII) process involves using a small aperture to extract single ions from a beam, which are then implanted into the target material.

Eventually, the researchers believe, the process could provide a substantial speed injection to the computing world. “Our technique may enhance the prospects for extending Moore’s Law,” Shinada Takahiro at Waseda University in Tokyo says.