"CHIPS: Dopants stabilize materials at the nanoscale level"
Downsizing to the nanoscale theoretically endows materials with greater strength, enabling copper interconnects, for example, to remain reliable even when line widths shrink to the nanoscale. But critics predict that high temperatures during use might cause the nanometer-sized grains to merge back into micron-sized grains, thereby making the material more brittle and prone to failure. Now a University of Arkansas professor contends that his simulations foretell a day when nanoscale copper will be doped, just as silicon semiconductors are today, thereby stabilizing the metal and preventing it from becoming brittle at high temperatures.
Audio Interviews / Text: http://eet.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=20900050