Researchers produce 3-D nanotube circuits

A team of researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, has succeeded in producing hyperfine 3-D circuits using carbon nanotubes, it was learned Sunday.

The team led by Kenji Hata released their findings in the on-line version of the May 4 issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

The discovery is expected to help reduce the size of integrated circuits and allow the development of highly sophisticated sensors, the researchers said.

The researchers synthesized nanotubes by blowing carbon gas that had been heated to about 800 C over a silicon board.

They then processed the resulting nanotubes applying a technique normally used to make semiconductors.

The process enabled the researchers to produce ultrafine wires as thin as 0.0001 millimeter, and 3-D structures. "Our approach opens up new ways to make economical and scalable devices with unprecedented structural complexity and functionality," they said in the article.