China develops "fiber chips" as thin as hair.

Chinese scientists have just made a major breakthrough in semiconductor technology by successfully developing a flexible, hair-thin fiber-like chip with powerful processing performance. This innovation promises to transform ordinary clothing into smart devices for health monitoring and remote control.

According to a paper published in the scientific journal Nature, a research team led by Professor Peng Huisheng has successfully fabricated a type of fiber-based integrated circuit (FIC). The remarkable feature of this chip is its extremely flexible structure. Instead of etching circuits onto a rigid, flat silicon wafer as in traditional methods, the scientists fabricated electronic components (such as transistors) on a thin polymer sheet. This polymer sheet was then tightly coiled to form a microscopic wire.

The result is a fiber chip with a diameter roughly the size of a human hair, but containing dozens of layers of stacked electrical circuits. Its component density is incredibly impressive, with approximately 100,000 transistors per centimeter of length. This allows the fiber chip to perform complex tasks such as signal acquisition, data processing, and even simple image recognition using artificial intelligence.

One of the biggest challenges for smart clothing is durability. Electronic devices are often "afraid" of water and impact, but the fiber chip from Fudan University has shown remarkable resistance.

In rigorous testing, this type of chip continued to function normally after being bent, stretched, and washed with water and common detergents. The flexible polymer protective shell completely isolated the internal electronic components from the external environment. The research team even tested it by having a 15.6-ton truck run over the chip fibers woven into the fabric, and the result was that it remained intact, without any damage or performance degradation.

The advent of fiber chips marks a significant turning point. Previously, smart fibers primarily served as simple sensors or electrical conductors, with data processing still relying on external hard circuit boards. Now, the fabric itself can become a computer "brain."

This technology opens up countless practical applications. We can think of shirts that can continuously monitor heart rate and blood oxygen levels, sending direct alerts to doctors without the need for additional watches or bulky equipment. In the entertainment field, virtual reality (VR) gloves could become as lightweight as regular gloves, making gaming experiences more realistic.

Furthermore, fiber chips have great potential applications in medicine, for example, soft implants that are more compatible with the human body, or brain-computer interfaces that allow people with disabilities to control devices with their thoughts.

With compatibility with existing industrial textile processes, mass production of clothing incorporating these fiber chips is entirely feasible in the near future, bringing humanity closer to a world where everything we wear can be connected and smart.

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/trung-quoc-che-tao-chip-soi-mong-nhu-toc.html