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Microchips, vehicle parts out of chicken feathers!
LAST month, a chemical engineer, Richard Wool, from the University of Delaware filed a patent that described a new generation of microchips. The patent proposes to replace silicon — which has long served as the basis for microchips — with another material. And what might this material be? Chicken feathers; can one believe?
Richard Wool and his colleagues at the university’s Affordable Composites from Renewable Sources (ACRES) project have been developing new uses for plant fibres, oils and resins. Using such raw materials as the soybean, Wool and his colleagues are designing prototypes for everything from simple adhesives to hurricane-proof roofs. The idea of using natural and waste materials in other ways is not new. Henry Ford grew soybeans around his headquarters, in Dearborn, Michigan, to find a variety he could use to fabricate auto parts. But when World War II broke out, the work was shelved.
In recent years, environmental concerns have enhanced efforts to use waste materials. These efforts have been bolstered by advances in such fields as engineering, materials science, biotechnology and genetic engineering.
Wool’s approach is unusual. Unlike many other researchers who start with a waste product and then decide what it might be used for, Wool looks at existing products and tries to find a waste product or an easy-to-grow crop that could be used to fabricate it.
His raw materials — soybeans, olives, and flax — can be grown easily and cheaply. And by substituting for petroleum-based plastics, renewable products could reduce dependence on foreign and domestic oil.
The chicken-feather microchip is not as weird as it sounds. A microchip is basically a wafer of silicon inscribed with a dense maze of transistors.
For the chip to do its computational magic, electric signals have to travel across these transistors.
These signals travel faster in the presence of some materials than others. Air, for instance, allows the fastest movement of all, because it provides essentially no resistance. When travelling near solids, however, the movement tends to kick up opposing positive charges. These charges can distract the signal from completing its appointed rounds.
Though these signals move more slowly in the presence of silicon than they do in air, silicon offers less resistance than many other materials do. That’s why it has been used in microchips for so long.
One possible alternative for increasing a chip’s speed is finding a quicker material than silicon. So Wool turned to the chicken feather. He knew that feathers contain lots of air; because birds need to fly, their feathers are strong but light, mainly due to their high air content. Wool figured, the presence of air would make electrons travel faster.
Wool’s team took chicken feathers and plant oils and moulded them into a composite material that approximates the shape and feel of silicon. When the researchers tested it for speed, they found that the composite allowed movement at about twice the rate of silicon.
Wool acknowledged that the future of the chicken-feather chip technology is very much a “wild card.” Not only would the microchip industry have to change its production methods, but other alternatives may also exist.
Even if the chicken-feather chips don’t catch on, Wool has lots of other ideas. About five years ago, his team began to develop a soybean-based composite for use in John Deere harvesters. Deere & Co made its first prototypes three years ago and began full-blown production last year.
Wool is also working with a carmaker — he won’t name which one — to replace petroleum-based components, such as those made of plastic, with renewable materials. In a similar vein, he’s collaborating with Tyson Foods to make renewable-based replacement parts for the company’s fleet of 3,000 Mack trucks.
Vehicle parts are a natural focus for such research. “The greatest thing for a truck or a car from an environmental point of view is to make it lightweight, because you’ll make a significant impact on fuel consumption,” Wool said. “You wouldn’t build a truck out of feathers — it sounds outrageous — but you could build non-load-bearing parts from them. You’d even get great sound damping.”
Wool understands that corporate manufacturing processes tend to be static because managers prefer to stick with techniques they know well, rather than chance it with new methods.
“In the end, the only thing private industry is interested in is making money, so the question is whether systems he’s developing will be cost-competitive with the systems they’re replacing,” said the Energy Department’s Paster.
“The answer, we believe, is that there’s a very good chance. That’s why we’re funding his work,” he reasoned.
The writer
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