WHAT will replace silicon chips when they can't be made any smaller? Computer giant IBM believes the answer could be carbon nanotubes - tube-shaped molecules made of carbon atoms that are 50,000 times thinner than a human hair.
IBM researchers have created the highest performing nanotube transistors to date and proven they can outperform the leading silicon chips available today.
IBM nanoscale research head Phaedon Avouris said in a statement researchers had been able to achieve the highest current carrying capability of any carbon nanotube transistor to date.
A high current-carrying capability, or transconductance, implies that transistors can run faster, leading to more powerful integrated circuits - the heart of electronic devices.
The researchers also found the nanotube transistors produced more than twice the transconductance per unit width of top-performing silicon chips.
Dr Avouris said the findings opened the door for more research into nanotubes' commercial viability.
"Carbon nanotubes are already the top candidate to replace silicon when current chip features just can't be made any smaller, a physical barrier expected to occur in about 10 to 15 years," Dr Avouris said.
Carbon nanotubes were discovered in 1991 by Sumio Iijima from Japan's NEC Corporation and have been the subject of research and speculation ever since.
Two years ago NASA proposed research into a nanotube "earth-to-orbit elevator" - a cable extending into space along which electrically powered vehicles could travel.