is one in which self-assembling materials are integrated into existing manufacturing processes to deliver nanoscale control and meet exacting fabrication constraints," says Nealey. About every 18 months, the number of transistors in computer chips doubles-the direct result of ever-shrinking sizes. By decreasing component size and, consequently, fitting more of them onto a single chip, computer speed and power improve. For this trend to continue during the next 20 years, science, technology, and the techniques used to produce microelectronics will need to operate on an even smaller scale. "Where the electronics industry is going is the manufacturing of devices that have ever-decreasing dimensions," says Nealey. He notes that the goal is to take the scale down from around 130 nanometers to under 50 nanometers (a nanometer equals one billionth of a meter). The research was conducted at the Center for NanoTechnology at the Uni- versity of Wisconsin at Madison's Synchrotron Radiation Center. It was funded in part by the National Science Foundation's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and the Semiconductor Research Corp., a consortium that sponsors university research worldwide. 2.12.3 Wireless Chip The silicon chip is destined to join the growing list of devices to go wireless, a development that could speed computers and lead to a new breed of useful products. NUTS AND BITS-TELECOM HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND MORE Figure 2-3 First wireless communication system built on a computer chip. A team of researchers headed by a University of Florida electrical engineer has demonstrated the first wireless communication system built entirely on a computer chip (Fig. 2-3). Composed of a miniature radio transmitter and antenna, the tiny system broadcasts information across a fingernail-sized chip. "Antennas are going to get installed onto chips one way or another-it's inevitable," says Kenneth O, a UF professor of electrical and computer engi- neering and the lead researcher. "We are really the first group that is maki