QUB hail breakthrough in 'multi-use circuitry'
QUB have hailed a breakthrough which means circuits could have multiple uses, instead of just a singular function.
The physics department at the university has been working on the nanotechnology and have been looking at tiny 2D sheets called domain walls.
Professor Marty Gregg is one of the leads on the project along with Dr Raymond McQuaid and Dr Amit Kumar.
“Almost all aspects of modern life such as communication, healthcare, finance and entertainment rely on microelectronic devices," he said.
"The demand for more powerful, smaller technology keeps growing, meaning that the tiniest devices are now composed of just a few atoms – a tiny fraction of the width of human hair.
“As things currently stand, it will become impossible to make these devices any smaller – we will simply run out of space.
"This is a huge problem for the computing industry and new, radical, disruptive technologies are needed.
"One solution is to make electronic circuits more ‘flexible’ so that they can exist at one moment for one purpose, but can be completely reconfigured the next moment for another purpose.
“Our research suggests the possibility to “etch-a-sketch” nanoscale electrical connections, where patterns of electrically conducting wires can be drawn and then wiped away again as often as required.
“In this way, complete electronic circuits could be created and then dynamically reconfigured when needed to carry out a different role, overturning the paradigm that electronic circuits need be fixed components of hardware, typically designed with a dedicated purpose in mind."