Israeli Scientists Are Turning Pencils Into Computer Chips

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the pencil doesn’t lag far behind. The inexpensive, simple graphite core that makes up a pencil may be capable of storing more data than the spaceship that took astronauts to the moon in the 1960s, reported the Jerusalem Post.

A team of quantum scientists at Tel Aviv University hopes to leverage the unique properties of graphite to create fast, efficient, and stable digital storage, within the next four years. Their groundbreaking new study was published in Nature Review Physics.

Computer Chips
Today, according to New Scientist, computer chips are made of silicon. Silicon is readily available and capable of containing a large number of transistors within a tiny surface area. Silicon’s properties make it an ideal base material for semiconductors.

But, it may not be the most ideal material. Scientists are starting to experiment with using graphite computer chips. Graphite is a carbon allotype that consists of carbon atoms stacked into layers called graphenes. This material conducts electricity efficiently and is resistant to acids and heat, properties that make it an attractive choice for crafting computer chips. 

Introducing Slidetronics
The  study at Tel Aviv University that was led by Professor Moshe Ben Shalom has shown graphite’s potential as the data storage of the future. Their method, which they’ve dubbed “slidetronics” leverages graphite’s atomic properties to create a computer chip without the need for silicon, the Jerusalem Post reported. Slidetronics relies on a quantum property called van der Waals forces.

Van der Waals forces bind atoms and molecules loosely together in a weaker way than ionic or covalent molecular bonds do and are formed from the temporary movement of electrons.

The researchers were able to artificially create and control Van der Waals forces using electric fields and mechanical pressure to shape the deformities on graphene sheets into specific configurations. The configurations lasted after the electronic fields and mechanical pressure was removed.

Ben Shalom’s team hopes to create a chip where Van der Waals forces that can be used to slide graphene’s atoms into different positions that can be used to store data in a similar way as switching transistors into off and on position on traditional silicon chips. 

The Benefits of Slidetronics
Slidetronics leverages the movement of particles at the atomic level which is much smaller than today’s micrometer sized transistor switches, it could be used to create smaller memory chips that can store more data and access it more quickly than today’s silicon chips. 

In addition, these chips would be able to leverage graphite’s conductivity and electric efficiency to create faster, better, and more efficient chips. Slidetronics technology, the ability to manipulate materials into different configurations at the atomic level, may, in the future, be used for highly customizable micro-computers.

“Like graphite, nature produces many other materials with weakly bonded layers,” doctoral student Stern explained in a press release from Tel Aviv University. “Each layer behaves like a Lego brick. Breaking a single brick is difficult, but separating and reconnecting two bricks is quite simple. Similarly, in layered materials, the layers prefer specific stacking positions where atoms align perfectly with those in the layer next to it. Sliding between these positions happens in tiny, discrete jumps – just an atomic distance at a time.”

Ben Shalom is confident that the team’s discovery will revolutionize computing in the near future. He said, “We hope to be ready in about four years. It will be a revolution. Layers are the most important thing for sliding.”

Slidetronics may be the beginning of a technological transformation that allows people to precisely manipulate the atomic levels and structures in everyday materials, including the ones inside your pencil. No sharpener required.