Graphene discovery may lead to faster computers

[muriel_volestrangler]

Studies on graphene, a revolutionary material made of a single layer of carbon atoms, have revealed that electrons – subatomic particles that result in electricity – travel many times faster than in silicon, the basis of all modern computer chips.

The discovery suggests that it may be possible to create a new generation of super-fast mobile phones and computers based on graphene.

Professor Kostya Novoselov of Manchester University, who shared last year's Nobel prize in physics with colleague Andre Geim for their work on graphene, said research on layers of the material held in a vacuum has shown that electrons behave very differently when travelling through graphene.

"Electrons in graphene have huge mobility, they travel very fast. It's quite a big result in terms of the physics and it may have some implications in terms of potential applications," Professor Novoselov said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/graphene-discovery-may-lead-to-faster-computers-2319914.html

[WCGreen]

1. Oh goody, faster surfing for porn....

[Ian David]

2. I'll be able to download porn much faster soon! n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I'm slightly worried the first 2 replies on DU say "faster porn!"

Your ideas of what people see computers having achieved is 'fast internet porn', it seems. Either you have a very low view of your fellow humans, or a low view of yourself ... :evilgrin:

(To be serious, I'm not convinced that fast downloads are limited by chip speed anyway; I'd say it's more the cabling at the user's end. Perhaps ultrafast chips would help multiplexing over fibre-optic cables, or help the porn sellers get cheaper high-capacity computers ...)

[The Doctor.]

4. Yes, porn should be consumed slowly...

for best results. :smoke:

Actually, there is something to be said for processing speed not only in chips, but in everything else. A system's capacity requires a bunch of RAM. The greater the RAM, the higher the capacity at all nodes, the faster information can be exchanged.

My understanding isn't all that sophisticated, but I know that faster electron transmission anywhere equals faster processing and more heat.

That would be something to consider too.

[Confusious]

5. Oh please. The reason I got on in 93 was porn

You had to download a text file and use uudecode to get one pic.

Porn makes the Internet.