Archive for October, 2004
Graphene
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/21/two_dimensional_carbon/
An international team of scientists has made a new material just one atom thick, by extracting a single plane of carbon from a graphite crystal. Known as graphene, the new fabric effectively exists in just two dimensions, and could pave the way for computers built from single molecules.
In the latest edition of Science, published tomorrow, the scientists from Manchester University and Chernogolovka, Russia, explain that the atomic sheet is a fullerene molecule. Fullerenes are a class of carbon molecules discovered in the last twenty years. The first, the famous football-shaped Carbon-60 molecule, was named for architect Buckminster Fuller, because of its resemblance to his geodesic dome structures.
The sheet of atoms is highly flexible, stable and strong and demonstrates remarkable conductivity. Manchester University’s Professor Andre Geim says that qualities like this have been found so far only in nanotubes. “As carbon nanotubes are basically made from rolled-up narrow stripes of graphene, any of the thousands of applications currently considered for nanotubes renowned for their unique properties can also apply to graphene itself,” he said.
Although the samples they have studied are mere microns across, the researchers found that the electrons will travel across the material without scattering over submicron distances - ideal for building very fast switching transistors. The researchers have even managed to demonstrate an ambipolar field effect transistor (a transistor commonly used to amplify a weak signal, such as a wireless signal) that works under ambient conditions.
Geim adds that there is some way to go still before the material can legitimately be considered the next big thing. Currently, the samples are tens of microns across, but for real engineering, the scientist says wafers will need to be a few inches in size.
However, Dr. Novoselov, Geim’s counterpart at Chernogolovka, is optimistic: “Only ten years ago carbon nanotubes were less than a micron long. Now, scientists can make nanotubes several centimetres long, and similar progress can reasonably be expected for carbon nanofabric too.”
Gentoo & Gnome 2.8
Woooo hoooo! It looks like Gnome 2.8 has finally made it’s way into the unstable tree of Gentoo. I’ve been waiting weeks for this, as I didn’t wish to unmask it and risk problems. I’ve been following the forums at gentoo.org for a while, and some of the people there have been going nuts since they were ‘forced’ to wait so long after the official release from the Gnome team. I’m just thankful that there are people out there willing to take the time to put it all together for me.
In Dallas
Looking back, I’m not sure if I did mention my trip to Dallas. I’m here for the IT support trip. Every six weeks they send one of us over to Dallas (since there isn’t an IT person there) to handle all the tech support stuff that builds up that can’t be done over the phone easily. Today, that person is me. I’m typing this as Office 2003 installs in the background (which is taking forever).
One nice side effect of the trip was that I get to use a LeTourneau vehicle for the trip. I picked it up about 4PM yesterday and will return it tomorrow morning. The vehicle that I’m using is a Honda Accord ES, not a bad driving car. It’s been so long since I’ve driven anything other than my van that it is taking me a while to acclimate. Even with my dusty driving skills (in a car) the Dallas traffic was a joke. The only place that it got bad was on I635 (the loop here), and that was only in about three spots. The speed limit was enforced just about as well as it is in Houston (posted: 60, actual average: 70).
Well, my Office 2003 install is wrapping up, so I need to go for now.
SpaceShipOne - part two
Well, it’s official: SpaceShipOne has taken the prize.
In related news, Burt Rutan talks about the rolls encountered in the previous flight.
Storming
Man is it ever raining outside right now. There is a bit, ok a little more than a bit, of a river running down the street in front of the office. I’m not going out until it subsides some … then I have to go over to security’s office. The Dallas trip I mentioned is the cause for my visit to the security offices, they need a copy of my drivers license to go in the records for the insurance. He asked if I’d had any tickets over the last three years and I think, yes I do that sometimes, that I can honestly say no. My only speeding ticket, which I still claim was bogus, was in the spring semester of 2001, just more than three years ago.