Fish and chips

 

Ocean plankton may lead to next generation computer chips.

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Diatoms, a form of microscopic algae, may help provide the structure for better computer chips.
 
The unicellular algae, which live in oceans, lakes and wet soil, are encased in patterned shells made of silica, a close relation to silicon, the bedrock of the semiconductor industry. The secret of the shell’s formation, experts think, may lead the way to radical new methods in chip manufacturing.
 
“If we can genetically control that process, we would have a whole new way of performing the nanofabrication used to make computer chips,” commented University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemistry professor Michael Sussman.

Bioprocessing construction

A team, led by Sussman and aided by diatom expert Virginia Armbrust from the University of Washington, has explored the formation of the shell and discovered 75 genes involved in the silica bioprocessing of its construction.
 
The findings, which are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could – according to Sussman - lead to faster chip speeds as diatoms can produce lines much smaller than those possible with current manufacturing technology.
 

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