wooden-chipIt looks like the advent of an age where wooden computer chips abound could be a reality, although practically speaking, such an age would still take quite some time to arrive. Scientists have already come up with a biodegradable semiconductor chip that is comprised of wood – mostly, anyways, as part of an effort to ease the burden on the environment due to electronic devices.

Those who are from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), have shown off the feasibility of replacing the substrate of a computer chip with cellulose nanofibril (CNF). CNF happens to be a flexible, biodegradable material that is derived from wood.

This group of researchers have claimed to “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”. Since portable electronics are normally made of non-renewable, non-biodegradable and of course, potentially toxic materials, in addition to experiencing a very high rate of being discarded because of planned obsolescence, the whole idea of wooden computer chips might help ease the strain on the environment in the long run. There is no better time than now to start anyways, right?

Filed in Computers >Green.. Source: theregister

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