by Ed Korczynski, Senior Technical Editor, Solid State Technology
Carbon nano-tubes (CNT) are the only viable (pun-intended) new materials being developed to replace copper as the electrical interconnects for future ICs. There are no known room-temperature superconductors, and optical interconnects require relatively slow and expensive lasers and detectors, and CNTs are the future. The theory and practice of growing CNTs was thoroughly reviewed at this spring’s Materials Research Society (MRS) meeting, and the applications as electronic IC interconnects will be seen at the International Interconnect Technology Conference (IITC) to be held in Burlingame, California in June.