Is there anything that the semiconductor industry isn doing in nano?
Gilleo: Considerable resources have and are being allocated for it, and researchers are doing breakthrough work. However, sometimes more honesty would be a good thing. Much of what’s being done is really Chemistry 101 under a nanotech umbrella. Chemists have worked in the nanoworld for generations, so we understand what nano is and isn’t. However, I’d like to see a good effort using a carbon nanotube transistor or some other system where we don’t waste money on replowing the field and really begin solving the big problem, which isn’t the transistor, but the interconnect. SI: Is the problem that a great portion of the effort goes not so much into developing new ways of doing things, but in trying to extend CMOS’ life? Gilleo: Attempting to push things to the limit is sensible. I remember back in the old disk-drive industry, when it was thought that some sort of replacement would be needed for future storage densities. Well, the densities were attained and disk drives are still here; and
