Source: NASA Ames Research Center, Computational Nanotechnology
The branching networks in biological dendritic neural trees provide signal switching and processing operations at the locations of the branching. A similar concept can be proposed to fabricate branching networks similar to dendritic neurons, but made of carbon nanotube networks.
IBM scientists unveiled a significant step towards replacing electrical signals that communicate via copper wires between computer chips with tiny silicon circuits that communicate using pulses of light. This is an important advancement in changing the way computer chips talk to each other. The device, called a nanophotonic avalanche photodetector, is the fastest of its kind and could enable breakthroughs in energy-efficient computing that can have significant implications for the future of electronics.
Eric Mockensturm, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State, and Vin Crespi, professor of physics and materials science and engineering and associate director of the National Science Foundation's Penn State Center for Nanoscale Science, talk about using computation tools to take nanoscience from theory to functional devices.