Byte Me by Marv Dealy
Nanoscale Semiconductor Components
Computers and everything from your microwave to your mud-encrusted, raised 4×4 pickup contain chips that are a “miniaturized electronic circuit (consisting mainly of semiconductor devices, as well as passive components),” according to a definition at Wikipedia (tinyurl.com/qcrpgp).
These chips have gotten more powerful and smaller as more and more circuits were squeezed into smaller areas. Now, however, semiconductor manufacturers are at an impasse in their attempt to work with devices so small they’re measured in nanometers.
Christopher Saunders says in an article at Internetnews.com (tinyurl.com/q2wne2) that the semiconductor industry “today is struggling to develop chip-writing technology smaller than 22 nanometers – prompting it to explore approaches like using transistors made of carbon nanotubes or silicon nanowires.” (22 nanometers equals 22 billionths of a meter or 22 millionths of a millimeter.)
Saunders writes that IBM and the California Institute of Technology are “exploring using DNA to help build next-generation computer chips.” Scientists working on the project say their new findings “could yield a significant breakthrough in driving more power and speed into chips, while cutting costs and improving energy efficiency.
“The idea centers around using DNA structures – which the scientists dub ‘origami’ – to help create miniscule ‘scaffolding’ on which chips can be built. In the IBM and Caltech plan, millions of carbon nanotubes could self-assemble into tiny circuit boards by sticking them to DNA molecules. The end result could see the industry moving beyond the 22nm limit, IBM said.”
According to Saunders, the 22 nanometer limit was addressed by Chandrasekhar “Spike” Narayan, science and technology manager at IBM’s Almaden Research Center, who referred to the widely cited “law” described by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore when he said “The cost involved in shrinking features to improve performance is a limiting factor in keeping pace with Moore’s Law and a concern across the semiconductor industry.”
Moore’s law, according to Webopedia.com, refers to “The observation made in 1965 by Gordon Moore that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits had doubled every year since the integrated circuit was invented. Moore predicted that this trend would continue for the foreseeable future. In subsequent years, the pace slowed down a bit, but data density has doubled approximately every 18 months, and this is the current definition of Moore’s Law, which Moore himself has blessed. Most experts, including Moore himself, expect Moore’s Law to hold for at least another two decades.” (tinyurl.com/pr2suj)
To get the real meat of the matter, you might want to read the letter abstract, online at Nature Nanotechnology, signed by no less than eleven different authors at tinyurl.com/mcdceq. It’ll cost you $18 to get the full text of the document, but in it the authors promise “Here we describe the use of electron-beam lithography and dry oxidative etching to create DNA origami-shaped binding sites on technologically useful materials, such as SiO2 and diamond-like carbon.” How can you go wrong?
Larger text on LCD screens: As more of us aging boomers replace our CRT computer screens with flat screen LCDs a problem has emerged – too many of us just can’t read the text on our desktops in the native font size on the high resolution screens.
While you do get more information on a higher resolution screen, the effect is somewhat like stepping back from your desk at work or at home – sure, you can see more but everything is smaller.
You can adjust the settings on your LCD, it’s true, but if you’re not careful you might end up stretching things in an unpredictable way. Fortunately, if you just want to make the text bigger on your desktop, you can in either XP or Vista.
Lincln Spector at PCWorld.com, tells us how in today’s Friday Freebie: “In XP, right-click the desktop and select Properties. Click the Appearance tab. Select a font size.
“Although the option in Vista is called ‘Adjust font size,’ it actually alters the size of text, icons, and everything else. Right-click the desktop and select Personalize. Click the Adjust font size link in the left panel to bring up the DPI Scaling dialog box. You’ll find two size options there, and can click Custom DPI for more choices.” (tinyurl.com/r8au5j)
I set the font selection on my Vista-infested laptop to 120dpi and can now nearly make out some of the fuzzy stuff on the screen through my growing cataracts, hurrah!
Computer humor: From a cousin away up near the Arctic Circle comes a joke about a Spanish teacher trying to impart to her students that in Spanish nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. For example, the phrase for house (la casa) is feminine, whereas the word for pencil (el lápiz) is masculine.
After the teacher was asked what gender “computer” was, she divided the students into two groups, men in one and the women in the other, and asked each to decide on the gender of the word “computer” and give four reasons for their decision.
The men’s group decided that “computer” should definitely be of the feminine gender (la computadora), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
The women’s group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine (el computadoro), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can’t think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
Email questions to Marv at: marv.dealy@throck.com.
Marv Dealy founded Throckmorten Enterprises in San Francisco in 1988 and moved the company to Big Oak Flat in 1996. Open Monday through Friday, 9-ish to 5-ish (209-962-7308. The company provides technical support for HP’s webinars, professional website design, computer repairs, and has recently begun providing wireless ISP services. The company also publishes the Yosemite Gazette.
