from the biodegradable-chips-give-new-meaning-to-"computer-virus" dept.
Technicians from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), have demonstrated the feasibility of replacing the substrate of a computer chip with cellulose nanofibril (CNF), a flexible, biodegradable material made from wood.
The full paper is available. From the abstract:
Today's consumer electronics, such as cell phones, tablets and other portable electronic devices, are typically made of non-renewable, non-biodegradable, and sometimes potentially toxic (for example, gallium arsenide) materials. These consumer electronics are frequently upgraded or discarded, leading to serious environmental contamination. Thus, electronic systems consisting of renewable and biodegradable materials and minimal amount of potentially toxic materials are desirable. Here we report high-performance flexible microwave and digital electronics that consume the smallest amount of potentially toxic materials on biobased, biodegradable and flexible cellulose nanofibril papers. Furthermore, we demonstrate gallium arsenide microwave devices, the consumer wireless workhorse, in a transferrable[sic] thin-film form. Successful fabrication of key electrical components on the flexible cellulose nanofibril paper with comparable performance to their rigid counterparts and clear demonstration of fungal biodegradation of the cellulose-nanofibril-based electronics suggest that it is feasible to fabricate high-performance flexible electronics using ecofriendly materials.
[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:10PM
My computer is close to 8 years old and works fine. With biodegradable chips, I fear I won't get that sort of life time.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by WillAdams on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:23PM
Yep, my Fujitsu Stylistic ST-4121 is coming up on 12 years old, and I despair of replacing it --- just can't find anything which has:
- active digitizer / stylus
- daylight viewable display
- reasonable size / weight and slate form factor so it'll fit in my laptop bag (which is over 25 years old)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @07:06PM
Yeah what it means is you'd get more stuff in landfills because they stopped working when some fungus broke something.
A lot of these devices don't need much of their semiconductors to fail to end up in a landfill. And once they do there's not really a big difference between current devices and their device, in fact their crap might be worse - since it breaks down to smaller stuff that isn't actually going to be digested and recycled by fungi or bacteria.
tldr; = stupid idea.
(Score: 2) by monster on Friday May 29 2015, @05:06PM
What starts as a stupid idea might give way to another bright one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @01:45AM
you do realize you are very much in the minority, right? perhaps not on this site, but in the 1st world at large. obsolescence is already planned. i commend you for not living by the current beat of the world's drum. but like i said, you are the minority. biodegradable electronics will be a god-send for the planet. even more so if they are made of wood. you've probably heard the argument about saving endangered species by turning them into livestock. well, same thing goes for trees. if we keep using less and less paper and other wood products, you're going to see less trees. i hope the environmental and aesthetic value of trees are obvious.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:26PM
that I may own your carcass, at the time of your death, of course"
WE are Groot!
(Score: 4, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:27PM
-k?
"It's bit rot, Mom."
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:39PM
Very free and easy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:20PM
Won't you try some of my purple berries?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:44PM
Basically they are saying this allows them to design electrical components that break down over time, or the first time they get wet.
They make that sound like a good thing.
They cite gallium arsenide content in electronic devices. But gallium arsenide in electronic devices is tightly bound, and presents no risk, as it does not leach out. All the risk lies in the manufacturing phases, mostly do to particle inhalation. (And data about that is far from conclusive [nih.gov]).
Then they go on to say that they "demonstrate gallium arsenide microwave devices" on a "fungal biodegradation of the cellulose-nanofibril-base", which means it breaks down, probably with the mere addition of water (since they are talking about cellulose nonofibril: translation: Paper).
So rather than a tightly bound, encased in plastic gallium arsenide chips, they have embedded them in high-tech paper mache. How can this be better?
Haven't they just introduced a source of uncontrolled particulates?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2, Funny) by KGIII on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:56PM
I personally wonder if this means that overclocking will really set your CPU on fire.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 3, Informative) by sudo rm -rf on Friday May 29 2015, @12:00PM
I personally wonder if this means that overclocking will really set your CPU on fire.
You may be joking, but seriously, paper has *bad* thermal conductivity. On the other hand Jung said "I've made 1,500 gallium arsenide transistors in a 5-by-6 millimeter chip. Typically for a microwave chip that size, there are only eight to 40 transistors", so those chips will not replace most of the CPUs any time soon.
(Score: 3, Informative) by sudo rm -rf on Friday May 29 2015, @11:52AM
...break down over time, or the first time they get wet
They seem to have considered at least the moisture problem:
TFA:
"Wood is naturally a hygroscopic material and could attract moisture from the air and expand. However, researchers manufactured a special epoxy coating on the surface of the CNF which dealt with concerns about both surface smoothness and moisture."
(Score: 2) by hubie on Friday May 29 2015, @06:53PM
I could see this being worked into throwaway items such as greeting cards, business cards, cereal boxes, etc.
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:55PM
<Insert rotational velocidensity joke here>
In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:57PM
This reminds me of what our future is going to entail.
When you buy something, unlike the days of old, you can expect your something to be reduced to dust immediately after use.
This will force people to buy more and that is great for capitalism.
So ya, they will market this as great for the environment, however, it won't really help cause the process is what kills our environment.
Welcome to Leonia!
Some links to chew on.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-connection-between-capitalism-and-planned-obsolescence?share=1 [quora.com]
http://sustainablehuman.com/planned-obsolescence-the-obvious-insanity-of-capitalism/ [sustainablehuman.com]
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/artbeat/used-goods-cities-capitalism-and-the-obsolescence-of-things [sunday-guardian.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday May 28 2015, @08:49PM
... something, I save up so I can purchase what I regard as being of the greatest lasting value.
I figured that out on my own - that is, no one else taught me to do that.
What would happen to the world's economy, were we to teach that trait to our schoolchildren?
The cheap disposable plastic shit industries would take a huge hit, on the other hand the economy as a whole would become dramatically more productive.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Megahard on Thursday May 28 2015, @08:38PM
Have been available for a long time. Get them cheap here. [amazon.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:56PM
I was thinking of the guy who wants his i7 to look like an Atwater Kent radio from the 1920s and mods accordingly. [google.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @03:17PM
I'm still trying to figure out how to connect this thing to the internet. :-)
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday May 29 2015, @04:13PM
I personally have never thrown away old computers. I keep them around for hobby tinkering.
But I can see applications for biodegradeable stuff. Sensors that you put out in nature to monitor wildlife or something represent one such use; you don't want to have to hike back out and collect them after you've gotten the data set you want for your study. I can see it being fun to make it, too, because if you know the process you can grow the raw material yourself and roll your own. I remember reading here or somewhere else recently that somebody had molded mycelium fiber into drones, and it sounded exceptionally cool. Who wouldn't want to be able to replicate all the modern conveniences using renewable, commonly available materials instead of specialized elements you have to own a mine in the Gobi desert to get? It's partly why I follow news about graphene and carbon nanotubes so closely, since carbon's ubiquitous.
Washington DC delenda est.