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"  If you tried to use your laptop or mobile phone on Venus, where the average temperature is 867 degrees Fahrenheit, frying the electronics would not be your main concern. Silicon, the building block of all modern computing, can actually withstand such intense temperatures. It&amp;#039;s the data itself, stored within the semiconductor material, that would suffer. Scientists at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, have found a way to overcome high-temperature computing problems by using tiny mechanical parts called\u2014wait for it\u2014nano-electromechanical switches. Their research, which appears in the September 10th issue of Science, could help improve computing technology for extreme-environment applications like those in the automotive industry or for aerospace propulsion systems. The problem lies in leaky electrons. Conventional transistors, the devices that make computer calculations possible, are all-electronic. Apply a certain voltage, and the electrical switch is off. Apply a different voltage, and you will turn the switch on. At normal temperatures, this system works exactly. But something called leakage current can be a threat to the flawless operation of the transistor. High temperature throws electrical signals off because of the thermal energy it transmits to electrons. This leakage current occurs because electrons can gain enough energy from heat to jump the electronic gap in a transistor. At high temperatures, rogue electrons get excited when they&amp;#039;re not supposed to and can cross this gap, even when there is no power on the device. At best, this wastes power. At worst, it can damage the circuit irreversibly.  Normal semiconductor transistors can&amp;#039;t handle the heat, because high temperatures cause electrons to behave unpredictably. The Case Western team&amp;#039;s tiny mechanical switch solves this problem. Electrons won&amp;#039;t flow in the switch unless two leads are physically touching, so leakage current is virtually nonexistent, even at temperatures of up to 932 F. Unlike transistors, the tiny electromechanical switches translate voltage into the motion of a tiny lever. Instead of controlling whether the switch is on or off with an electrical signal, the switches employ the electrostatic force to drive a lever. Each switch has two levers, corresponding to on or off. When positive voltage is applied to the input, the negatively charged lever is attracted to it. When negative voltage is applied to the input, the positively charged lever is attracted to it. Each lever is coated with a thin layer of conductive film, and when the two leads touch, current flows. When they don&amp;#039;t, none does. High-Temp Applications While other groups are developing nano-electromechanical devices, this is the first time anyone has demonstrated the technology at such high temperatures, says extreme-computing researcher Mehran Mehregany. While mobile phones aren&amp;#039;t likely to make it to the surface of Venus anytime soon, high-temperature computers could come in handy for autonomous landers operating on hot planets or in the guts of an active volcano. Computer chips that run especially hot\u2014in certain supercomputers\u2014could also eliminate the need for complex systems to cool them, making them more efficient. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a6113/next-gen-semiconductors-pave-way-for-computing-in-extreme-temperatures/>