This molecular arrangement provides some free electrons to enhance its conductivity while, at the same time, retains polymer properties. Lucent hopes that one day these materials will eliminate the hardness and inflexibility of semiconductors. With flexible semiconductor, you may one day see scroll-like television screens that can be rolled up and hung anywhere like a poster. Imagine electronic paper that can download any book, newspaper or magazine. Marvin Cohen of the University of California, Berkley, U.S., has spent much time researching nanotubes.
Nanotubes are miniscule cylinders made of atoms of carbon, nitrogen, boron, or other materials.
They are the equivalent of microscopic chicken wire. Atomically denoted as C-60, the latest isotope of carbon, this soccer ball shaped molecule has been the focus of many scientists ever since its discovery in the early 1990s. Researchers believe that this material may hold very unique properties. These nanotubes can be linked together into complex networks, analogous to the linking network of neurons in a human mind. So immense is the capacity of these nanotube networks, that according to a hypothesis, three wine bottles full of these microscopic tunnels can accommodate the entire world's computing needs.