Tuning In to Nanotube Radio

February 5, 2008 | Source: Technology Review

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have made scalable radio-frequency analog electronics in which all of the transistor-based devices, including the antennas and amplifiers, are built out of nanotube transistors.

Other groups have demonstrated the use of single nanotubes in radio circuits, but in this design, every active component is based on nanotubes, by using arrays of thousands of nanotubes in parallel. That spreads the current, allowing for use with high-current analog circuits such as amplifiers. The fabrication method used to build the analog devices also lends itself to current manufacturing processes.

They are now working on creating integrated circuits containing up to 100 of these transistors.