Attractive proposition

A three-year international project led by

could, it is claimed, make computers up to 500 times faster by dispensing with the need for wires to carry electric currents in silicon chips. Research will instead focus on using nanotechnology to create magnetic fields to produce electric signals.

Computer power doubles on average every 18 months — a process known as

’s Law — as technology allows developers to reduce the size of integrated circuits. However, over the next few years it is believed researchers will hit a limit imposed by the need to use electrical wiring, which weakens signals sent between computer components at high speed.

Work at

aims to establish if there is a way of carrying electric signals without wiring. Wi-fi internet systems and mobile phones use wireless technology now, but the electronics that create and use the signals are too large to be used within individual microchips successfully.