Researchers show transistors the door

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Challenging a basic tenet of the semiconductor industry, researchers at Hewlett-Packard Co. have demonstrated a technology that could replace the transistor as the fundamental building block of all computers.

The devices, called crossbar latches, could be made so small that thousands of them could fit across the diameter of a human hair, enabling the high-tech industry to continue to build ever-smaller computing devices that are less expensive than their predecessors.

The HP research, reported in today's Journal of Applied Physics, scraps the transistor entirely.

In its place is basically a series of platinum wires crossed in opposite directions. At the junctions are molecules that in the HP research happen to be steric acid.

As in a transistor, an electrical signal that passes through a crossbar latch is manipulated to perform logic functions.

The latest research shows that the technology also can be used for amplifying a signal, allowing multiple functions to be applied.

The researchers have not glued together multiple crossbar latches, though they say it's something they're continuing to pursue.

They expect it to be commercially viable as early as 2012.

The latches are formed through a specialized stamping process for nano-sized imprints.

But crossbar latches aren't going to replace today's silicon chips any time soon.

At first, they would likely be used for memory and later for specialized devices.