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Despite Export Ban, Top Chinese Nuke Lab Uses US Chips

It's 'insanely difficult to enforce' restrictions on sales overseas, former trade official says

(Newser) - The China Academy of Engineering Physics, the country's top nuclear weapons research and development facility, was one of the first institutions put on a US export blacklist in 1997—but it doesn't seem to have had much trouble acquiring restricted items. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis...

Transistors May Migrate to Paper
Transistors
May Migrate
to Paper
Oct 20, 2008 1:49 AM CDT

Transistors May Migrate to Paper

Circuit-carrying cellulose undercuts silicon on price

(Newser) - The future of electronics may be etched on paper, reports the Economist. Researchers have found a cheaper, easier way to make transistors using cellulose, paper’s key ingredient. Paper could soon replace silicon as a surface on which to mount transistors, which control the flow of electric currents and power...

Would You Mind If This Wasn't Mined?

Lab-created diamonds get ever closer to nature's version—to chagrin of some

(Newser) - De Beers might like you to think a “diamond is forever,” but try this on for size: “A diamond is for everyone.” In a secret Massachusetts lab, Apollo Diamond is using novel technology to grow diamonds virtually indistinguishable from their mined cousins, the Smithsonian reports. Unfortunately...

World's Smallest Transistor Sets Path to Better Chips

Newfound material could replace silicon

(Newser) - Scientists in England have created the world’s smallest transistor, the BBC reports. At 1 atom thick and 10 atoms wide, it could be the key to creating microchips beyond the power of silicon. The transistor is made of graphene, a single layer of graphite and an excellent conductor of...

Etch-A-Sketch Newest Chip Design Tool

Nano-sized wires can be drawn, erased using atomic microscope

(Newser) - Imagine a computer chip that could literally have wires drawn onto it and erased like an etch-a-sketch. That’s what University of Pittsburgh researchers have been able to create, Technology Review reports. To demonstrate the technology, researchers drew the tip of an atomic force microscope across the chip like a...

Semiconductor Sales Rise While Prices Fall

Main growth in Asian-Pacific region

(Newser) - Semiconductor sales in October went up 5% worldwide from last year, thanks to strong growth in the Asian-Pacific region and Japan, and an industry association forecasts 3.8% growth for the year, reports the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile prices have dropped rapidly -- "Consumers are reaping huge benefits from...

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