Very small, very smart
Nanocircuits developed, next generation of computing unveiled
In computer hardware technology, 2001 and the following years saw the baton pass from the microchip to the nanochip. The year was a triumph for nanocircuits — nanometer-scale electrical circuits (1 nanometer = 10^-9 metres). For a chip of a given size, it meant more computing power and an ability to perform functions of greater complexity at faster speed using less power. Applications are the stuff of dreams: a future filled with tiny but powerful, fast mechanisms which can do myriad tasks, including translating conversations on the fly and penetrating the deepest recesses of the body to diagnose illness. Combined into complex frameworks, the nanocircuits can lead to computing power that would yield unimaginable scientific breakthroughs. Although such computers on a commercial scale are years away owing to costs and problems of error-free performance, the advances in nanocircuitry mean that for the time being Moore’s Law prevails.