News and Reviews....

Nanotubes and Buckyballs .......   March  2004

    At first the names Nanotubes and Buckyballs might lead me to believe that these might be the two newest toys marked to be the rage next December 25th. The two names are snappy and probably could make great marketing hype. 

    Not nearly in the same category as toys. The term Nanotubes or carbon nanotubes to be more specific are polymers in thermal interface materials used in the ever shrinking world of micro-electronics. I have great interest in micro-electronics having been employed in the capacity of designing micro-electronics prior to my forming Custom Audio-Video Systems. 

    Nanotubes allow the electronics to become closer together, preventing a short to occur. That relates to Custom Audio-Video by allowing the circuits incorporated in our equipment  to get smaller, but in particular it allows the DLP (Digital Light Processor), the mechanism in use in today's leading edge projectors to have many more reflective mirrors in the same given area resulting in more resolution which equates to a smoother, clearer picture. So large projected pictures will get a leap in resolution for any given picture size immediately as the new micro-mirror devices emerge onto the market. To give you an idea of actual size, the hinges that control the micro-mirrors in the DLP would be built from a layer of acid that is only five atomic layers thick.

    The mark down-sizing also requires the associated circuits which work in conjunction to match in work load compared to their size, thereby more robust. The whole electronics industry will feel a gush of new and exciting products with a emphasis on smaller SIZE. I can't wait to see what this new generation will produce.

    Oh yes, Buckyballs are hollow Fullerene structures that could be infused with drugs and directed to a particular site within the body. A convergence of biology and electronics. 

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