(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-29 11:42

US researchers have made microscopic transistor radios out of carbon nanotubes, tinier than a grain of sand, which can not only tune into the traffic report, but may end up outperforming current silicon-based electronics, media reported Monday.

Researchers overcame a series of obstacles that have defeated efforts to make nano-radios, including getting amplification, by making their devices on quartz wafers.

They consist of two radio frequency amplifiers, a radio frequency mixer and an audio amplifier, all made from the carbon nanotube materials. Regular-sized headphones plug directly into an output transistor made from the nanotube material.

"Our goal is not to make tiny radios per se, but really to develop nanotubes as a higher-performing semiconductor," said John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois, US.

He said the devices are meant to showcase a new way of making carbon nanotubes in perfectly aligned rows, much like strands of silky hair that have been combed flat.

These strands are a hundred thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair, forming a thin layer of semiconductor material that can be used in electronics devices and circuits.

"The radio is really a step along the path to building new platforms for electronics technology," said Rogers.