Atom-Scale Chips: Japan Creates Nanotubes 100,000 Times Thinner Than Human Hair

A group of Japanese researchers from the University of Tokyo announced the creation of the world's thinnest semiconductor nanotubes. Their diameter is only one nanometer, which is approximately 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. This development is a significant step toward creating more compact microchips and practically confirms theoretical calculations published nearly 25 years ago. According to Ixbt.com reports .

The main challenge in creating such ultra-thin inorganic nanotubes was ensuring their stability. Japanese scientists solved this problem with a unique method: they used nanotubes made of boron nitride, which acts as an insulator, as a "mold." Inside this shell, heating resulted in the formation of an ultra-thin tube made of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a promising semiconductor material. As a result, a structure based on the "matryoshka" principle, with components nested inside each other, was formed.

The confined space forces atoms to arrange in a nearly perfect order, allowing for the production of material with minimal defects. This design is highly suitable for Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistors used in modern processors. Experiments also confirmed that the electronic properties change as the nanotube diameter decreases, enabling more flexible control of future semiconductor devices.

The new material has several advantages over silicon. Modern silicon chips are created using etching methods, which lead to defects at extremely small scales. The new nanotubes, however, are formed with atomic-level precision. Furthermore, they are more stable and have more predictable properties than carbon nanotubes, which is crucial for industrial manufacturing.

Currently, researchers are working on increasing the length of the nanotubes from a few hundred nanometers to one micrometer and beyond. There are also plans to use this approach to create other types of nanostructures with magnetic and superconducting properties.