The circuit contains twelve CMOS transistors laid along a single carbon nanotube, which acts as the wire to transfer electricity from transistor to transistor. The goal was to test electrical characteristics of carbon nanotubes, and the IBM circuit was able to reach a speed of 50MHz. The researchers hope to eventually achieve much faster rates than today’s silicon circuits.

Carbon has the ability to improve chip speeds by being more heat efficient than silicon, and this hybrid silicon/carbon circuit would also enable manufacturers to use some of their existing infrastructure.

The research is published as “An Integrated Logic Circuit Assembled on a Single Carbon Nanotube” in the March 24, 2006 issue of Science.

References: IBM news release, BBC News, slashdot, and New Scientist