DNA, the genetic material of life, may help make faster, cheaper computer chips when it is formed into specific shapes through a process reminiscent of the ancient art of paper folding, scientists say.
"We would like to use DNA's very small size, base-pairing capabilities and ability to self-assemble, and direct it to make nanoscale structures that could be used for electronics," said Adam T Woolley from Brigham Young University in the US.
The smallest features on chips currently produced by electronics manufacturers are 14 nanometres wide.
That is more than 10 times larger than the diametre of single-stranded DNA, meaning that this genetic material could form the basis for smaller-scale chips, researchers said.
"The problem, however, is that DNA does not conduct electricity very well. So we use the DNA as a scaffold and then assemble other materials on the DNA to form electronics," said Woolley.
To design computer chips similar in function to those that Silicon Valley churns out, researchers are building on other groups' prior work on DNA origami and DNA nanofabrication.
The most familiar form of DNA is a double helix, which consists of two single strands of DNA. Complementary bases on each strand pair up to connect the two strands, much like rungs on a twisted ladder.
However, to create a DNA origami structure, researchers begin with a long single strand of DNA. The strand is flexible and floppy, somewhat like a shoelace.
Scientists then mix it with many other short strands of DNA - known as "staples" - that use base pairing to pull together and crosslink multiple, specific segments of the long strand to form a desired shape.
Researchers built a 3D, tube-shaped DNA origami structure that sticks up like a smokestack from substrates, such as silicon, that will form the bottom layer of their chip.
