July 24–NEWARK, Del. –The chip industry may be going to the birds.

Literally.

Researchers at the University of Delaware’s ACRES program–Affordable Composites from Renewable Sources have used chicken feathers to develop a computer processor.

The chicken-feather chip is made from soybean resin and feathers crafted into a composite material that looks and feels like silicon, says the head of the program, chemical engineering professor Richard Wool.

And feathers from this fowl are actually an ideal renewable source because chicken feathers have hollow, yet strong shafts that are made mostly of air–a great conductor of electricity. In early tests, electrical signals moved twice as quickly through the feather chip as through a conventional silicon chip, researchers say.

“The first time, Dr. Wool’s response was, ‘Recheck,”‘ adds Chang Kook Hong, 34, the postdoctoral research associate who headed the research. “I repeated the test three times with the same results. Then he said, ‘You have a hit here.”‘

Problems still remain, including the natural bumps and irregularities that come from using an organic base, says Dr. Dennis Prather, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

“The microchip industry depends on materials that are ultra smooth and ultra flat,” he says. “This was anything but that.”