back to article WOODEN computer chips reveal humanity's cyber elf future

Boffins have developed a biodegradable semiconductor chip made almost entirely of wood in an effort to alleviate the environmental burden of electronic devices. Technicians from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), have demonstrated the …

  1. tojb
    Boffin

    If you like cellulose chips then you'll love cellulose LCDs

    http://www.nature.com/am/journal/v6/n1/full/am201369a.html

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Now your computer can literally rot away.

    I predict a big industry in avoiding premature biodegradation.

    1. stucs201
      Coat

      re: Now your computer can literally rot away.

      I wooden be happy if that happened.

      1. AndrueC Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: re: Now your computer can literally rot away.

        I twigged to that problem as well.

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: re: Now your computer can literally rot away.

          It might suit some applications.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: re: Now your computer can literally rot away.

            >It might suit some applications.

            You think they'll branch out?

    2. Jeff Wojciechowski

      Obsolescence is now built in!!

      1. psychonaut

        so that crap 80's electronics company "Bush" had the right idea...they were just before their time...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Gives a whole new meaning to the term "bit rot"…

  3. cbars Bronze badge
    Joke

    This is so exciting

    I've got wood

    1. Truffle
      Joke

      Re: This is so exciting

      How degrading.

      1. nematoad
        Happy

        Re: This is so exciting

        "I wooden be happy if that happened."

        "I twigged to that problem as well."

        "I've got wood"

        "How degrading."

        Dear dear dear have all the sub-editors of the tabloids just started reading El Reg?

        You should all be ashamed of yourselves!

        1. Swarthy

          Re: This is so exciting

          "Yew should all be ash-amed of yourselves!"

          TFTFY

          1. ravenviz Silver badge
            Facepalm

            Re: This is so exciting

            You're out on a limb with that one!

        2. Schlimnitz

          Re: This is so exciting

          Haven't been here long?

          Corny subheadings are quite poplar round here, even if you apparently don't cedar point.

          I ashly thought they were quite funny

          1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

            Re: This is so exciting

            <p>I ashly thought they were quite funny|</p>

            <p>but they don't seem to be very poplar</p>

        3. nematoad

          Re: This is so exciting

          Just so you know.

          My post above was supposed to be a joke, hence the smiley.

          Ah well.

          1. TitterYeNot
            Coat

            Re: This is so exciting

            "My post above was supposed to be a joke, hence the smiley."

            Ah, you should have used the joak icon. People round here sometimes have an inibility to take comments fig-uratively.

          2. mike2R

            Re: This is so exciting

            Posts jokingly complaining about puns, pretty much have to include a pun of their own.

            It's practically mandatree.

            1. sisk

              Re: This is so exciting

              Someone will no doubt find some problem with this to bark about.

            2. Jamie Jones Silver badge

              Re: This is so exciting

              Finally software writers will have an exuse for bit rot...

              1. Indolent Wretch

                Re: This is so exciting

                I don't think mulch of these puns.

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: This is so exciting

                  I don't think mulch of these puns.

                  Someone planted the seed earlier in this thread and just look how they've sprouted!

          3. skeptical i
            Devil

            Re: This is so exciting

            Sorry, nematoad, life can be a beech that way. Seems rooted in our nature. ;^)

      2. TitterYeNot
        Coat

        Re: This is so exciting

        Fir goodness sake people, you really are taking the pith! Stop having a larch and think outside the box! This tech is oakay, and will become really poplar, as long as the world isn't full of Luddites pining for the alder days.

        Ahem, got my coat, think I'd better make like a tree and leave...

        1. Captain Hogwash

          Re: This is so exciting

          Yes, it's plane to see that this is an idea that could bear fruit.

        2. Trigonoceps occipitalis

          Re: This is so exciting

          No Luddites, just saboteurs.

        3. PNGuinn
          Coat

          Re: This is so exciting @ TitterYeNot

          You mean: ... make like a tree and leaf.

          FIFY.

          Think I'd better bough out as well.

        4. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. breakfast Silver badge

      Re: This is so exciting

      I'm surprised Apple aren't branching out into this area.

  4. Cameron Colley

    A couple of concerns:

    Is the epoxy environmentally friendly? We see a lot of fuss make about phthalate-free and the like.

    What about spontaneous combustion? This is all well and good for "support chips" and. I agree even replacing those could be helpful but I wouldn't want a high-wattage graphics card made from paper.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A couple of concerns:

      The printed circuit cards themselves are already made of paper.

      1. Cameron Colley

        Re: A couple of concerns:

        Well, in the same way that a GRP structure is made from glass -- it's there but it's hardly recyclable. So, yes, perhaps I am being a bit silly typing about combustion but then perhaps these aren't really made from "paper" in any sense that we know it.

        Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that they could cut down on things like Gallium Arsenide and do think this is a great idea. Perhaps it's just the El Reg article putting too much emphasis on the "wooden" part.

      2. Trevor Gale
        Boffin

        Re: A couple of concerns:

        Non-critical consumer and low-frequency 'economical' circuit cards (e.g. parts of a television and of audio amplifier boards) are made from SRBP (super resin bonded paper) but this material is totally unsuited to high-frequency or high-density boards, where FR4 epoxy-fibreglass is used or even ceramics for SHF / microwave circuits.

        One won't find many SRBP cards in an average desktop PC either for the same reasons.

        Printed circuit substrate properties such as thermal expansion, dielectric constants, physical stability, copper / gold bonding strength and processing tolerance (chemical and thermal) are vital considerations especially as one drives higher in the frequency and density domains.

        There is no 'fits all sizes' material for PCB manufacture.

  5. Andy Non Silver badge

    Built in expiry?

    How stable are these biodegradable materials while still on a working circuit board? If they degrade and the equipment prematurely fails as a result, they will just be increasing the amount of waste and cost of replacement. I'm sure manufacturers would be overjoyed if it forces consumers to buy more frequently. Some of us have electronic equipment still in use after twenty or more years.

    It's one thing if your computer gets a virus infection, but what about a fungus infection?

    1. DropBear
      Trollface

      Re: Built in expiry?

      I guess "bit rot" just acquired a whole new meaning...

    2. PNGuinn

      @Andy Non

      ... <ring> <ring>... Hello, my name's .... there's a problem with your Windows computer.... You appear to have a fungus....

      Someone'll try it and many will fall for it.

      Seriously, though you make a good point. If this thing can be developed to a level of acceptable reliability, ie essentially indefinite lifetime, then all well and good. If it becomes another excuse for planned obsolescence then not good.

      Its early days. This is just a labgasm at the moment. (More research and much more funding needed, please). It may lead to who knows where for new devices / applications.

      My main concern would be repeatability / reliability in mass production. We have organics elsewhere in electronics. They seem to have cracked the reliability / lifetime problems with lcd screens, organic led screens not yet. Probably the best comparison today might be the humble cd or dvd. Great variations in quality and reliability and precious little concrete info on which are best.

      It'd be a shame if an exicting new technology got a bad name because of poor / cost reduced manufacturing processes.

  6. TRT Silver badge

    Oh crap...

    My CPU got rooted. :(

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh crap...

      Did you plant it?

  7. frank ly

    Is it really 'friendly'?

    "The majority of material in a chip is support. We only use less than a couple of micrometers for everything else, ..."

    Isn't that true for silicon base chips as well? Silicon is not poisonous.

    If the cellulose base degrades, doesn't that release the gallium arsenide (etc) active components? If a silicon chip is disposed of, at least the metals and other compounds are safely and physically locked into it.

    It may be that the driving force behind this development is the energy and other costs of manufacture, especially for short run batches of specialist devices.

    1. Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip

      Re: Is it really 'friendly'?

      I was puzzled by this to so decided to read the original article.

      In the case of RF electronics, gallium arsenide (GaAs) is used as the chip substrate not silicon. The technique basically involves slicing off the active top layer from the GaAs substrate and sticking it on to the cellulose substrate instead, resulting in around a hundred fold reduction in GaAs used in the chip. The remainder of the original GaAs substrate can then be reused to make more chips.

      The technique works with silicon as well, but does not seem to provide any the environmental advantage.

      1. Charles 9

        Re: Is it really 'friendly'?

        "The technique works with silicon as well, but does not seem to provide any the environmental advantage."

        There's no need to use the technique with silicon. Silicon's ridiculously abundant and non-contaminating, so it's a case of "If it ain't broke..."

  8. Elmer Phud
    Coat

    Some you win,

    cellulose

  9. TRT Silver badge

    Its bark...

    is worse than its byte.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ever hear of the mute dog tree?

      It had no bark.

  10. Michael Habel

    Cheapo biodegradable freebie's at the local grease joint?!

    Why do i suspect that this is destined to land in things like this...

  11. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge
    Meh

    Have they actually thought this through?

    Sound like accelerated planned obsolescence. No need to worry about your non-removable battery dying, your circuit boards will biodegrade long before that happens. What controls when this stuff begins to degrade?

    And microchips are generally a very small part of most electronic systems, so while they go green and eat themselves the rest of a product by volume - say >>99% - still needs to be recycled the old fashioned way. What's next? Go back to making everything out of wood?

    Dunno about anyone else, but I like my electronics to last, not start biodegrading after a couple of weeks/months/years. When - if - they do eventually die I take them to be recycled. What happens beyond that point is out of my control.

    Build stuff to last, make sure it can be properly recycled when it does eventually pop its clogs. Being biodegradable is fine for shopping bags. Please please please don't apply it to electronics.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Have they actually thought this through?

      They found a bug. Eating.

  12. AndrueC Silver badge
    Joke

    Branching out in a new direction.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      LDX #$08

      dec:

      DEX

      STX $0200

      CPX #$03

      BNE dec

      STX $0201

      BRK

  13. Trollslayer

    Heat

    Will they dissipate heat as well though?

    This is a big problem.

  14. pig

    ""Mass-producing current semiconductor chips is so cheap, and it may take time for the industry to adapt to our design," "

    Cheap??

    It might be once you have spent a few billion on the fab...

    Not something I would call cheap though.

    1. Charles 9

      Semiconductor manufacture is what's known as a "high initial, low incremental" industry in terms of costs. Much like a related article here about VFX firms. Once you actually plunk down and build the plant, going from a million to a billion is a trifle.

  15. Ralph B

    What would Jesus say?

    "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the syslog that is in your own eye?"

    Mathew 7:3 (almost)

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    “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"

    For pedantry's sake: wouldn't the smallest amount be nothing at all?

  17. AJ MacLeod

    " Wood is naturally a hydroscopic material "... I think hygroscopic was the word you wanted...

    1. wdmot

      Unless it's for underwater imaging?

  18. Tromos
    Joke

    Marvels of modern science

    Now you can not only have a computer as small as a matchbox, but you can have a computer that IS a matchbox!

    1. Indolent Wretch

      Re: Marvels of modern science

      Running Windows Vesta?

      I'm sorry I couldn't resist, I'm not well, I'm going home.

  19. Simon Harris

    Wood chip?

    Will we now be seeing retro 1970s style IoT wallpaper?

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "They become as safe as fertilizer."

    What, the stuff commonly used in home-made bombs?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      By itself, fertilizer's decently safe (in terms of ANFO, it's only the AN). You need to mix in some fuel oil (FO) at the right concentrations to make the deadly combination. Also, most fertilizers contain denaturants meant to keep you from doing this. I recall the news noting the Oklahoma City bombers had to have had quite the skill not only to renature the fertilizer but also to figure out the right amount of fuel to add to their truck bomb.

      1. PNGuinn
        Mushroom

        re ANFO

        I don't recall reading anywhere that the IRA had any problems blowing up things with Coop mix during the troubles. In fact ISTR that one of the problems with their home made explosive was that it was somewhat unstable.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: re ANFO

          IIRC the IRA were known to try to come up with other AN mixes like ANNIE that weren't as stable. Plus AN itself can go off under the wrong conditions (especially in the earlier days before they denatured AN intended for fertilizer). Recall the Texas City disaster which involved a ship full of the stuff. It got hot enough for the stuff to spontaneously detonate.

          1. harmjschoonhoven
            Mushroom

            Re: re re ANFO

            Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) decomposes exothermally at 210 °C in H2O (steam) and N2O (laughing gas). N2O is a better oxidizer than pure oxygen.

            So a mixture of ammonium nitrate and organic matter is a powerful explosive. It is however known to explode spontaneously.

            N2O in itself is stable. In 1914 Robert H. Goddard patented a rocket apparatus powered by N2O and gasoline.

  21. Mark 85

    Might work well... but...

    ...there's the tree-hugger knee-jerk about cutting down more trees for this. I'm expecting to hear much yelping and screaming from the woods by them over this.

  22. GBE

    Except the "chip" isn't wood, it's still GaAs or whatever.

    From the article: "Boffins have developed a biodegradable semiconductor chip made almost entirely of wood."

    Except that according to what I've read, the chip is still made of GaAs or Silicon or whatever it used to be made of. It's only the substrate on which the chip is mounted that is made of cellulose and epoxy.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Except the "chip" isn't wood, it's still GaAs or whatever.

      But in microwave chips, the GaAs IS the substrate, too. According to the article, most of the toxic stuff isn't actually used for the transistors. By switching to a cellulose base, they cut the GaAs use drastically, using the toxic stuff more efficiently and not only stretching out use of the toxic stuff but also making the individual units more ecologically-friendly.

  23. Zot

    Future engineers...

    Muggle - "Hey! This OS is getting slower and slower!

    OS engineer, " Ah, you've clearly got one of them Fungal Viruses in there, sir! Here, use this spray four times a day and it'll be up and about in no time."

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    I'm not so interested in wireless but with a short-ish life and potentially high failure rate, such a thing could be a better fit for flash. Trade the cellulose for nitrocellulose, lay an extra isolated diode on the sheet, and you have instantly plausibly-deniable flashpaper memory. I wish I could say it looks good on paper but these particular TFTs are on glass, for shame.

  25. Hugh 3
    Coat

    Bought a wooden computer...

    but it wooden work.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Presumably the work of a splinter group.

  27. Brainflees

    The circle of

    Good idea if they use recycled CNF fertilizer to feed new trees, which will then go into producing new CNF, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere whilst they're at it.

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