{"692502":{"#nid":"692502","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Can Mechanical Strain Power the Future of Computing?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003EEvery computer, from the large, clunky machines of the past to today\u0027s AI accelerators, depends on a physical phenomenon that can represent information. For decades, that role has been played by the controlled movement of electrical charge through billions of transistors etched onto a chip.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003EA Georgia Tech-led research team is exploring a different approach. Rather than relying on charge alone to perform logic operations, the researchers are investigating whether nanoscale mechanical strain can serve as a new way to represent and process information.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u0022Whether it\u0027s charge, light, magnetism, or strain, computing doesn\u0027t care how information is transported as long as it reliably represents a one and a zero,\u0022 said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/asif-islam-khan\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAsif Khan\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0022Our approach explores a different path by blending multiple information-carrying modalities together.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003ELed by Khan, the effort has received $10.6 million\u0026nbsp;from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency\u0027s (DARPA)\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.darpa.mil\/research\/programs\/fast-and-curious\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer\u0022 title=\u0022(opens in a new window)\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFast and Curious\u0026nbsp;program\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, an initiative focused on developing logic circuits that are at least 100 times more energy efficient than today\u0027s state-of-the-art technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/news\/2026\/09\/can-mechanical-strain-power-future-computing\u0022\u003ERead the full story on the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering website.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBacked by $10.6 million from DARPA, a Georgia Tech-lead team is investigating how nanoscale mechanical forces can help computers process information using less energy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Backed by $10.6 million from DARPA, a Georgia Tech-lead team is investigating how nanoscale mechanical forces can help computers process information using less energy."}],"uid":"35272","created_gmt":"2026-09-10 15:29:43","changed_gmt":"2026-09-10 15:33:50","author":"aneumeister3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-09-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-09-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681125":{"id":"681125","type":"image","title":"Chip-under-strain_Fast-and-Curious_cream-background.jpeg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EApplying mechanical strain to semiconductor devices can improve the flow of electrons, enabling faster and more energy-efficient computing. \u003Cem\u003EImage above is not a depiction of an actual device or experimental result.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1789054209","gmt_created":"2026-09-10 15:30:09","changed":"1789054209","gmt_changed":"2026-09-10 15:30:09","alt":"Flexible electronic device with a dense array of interconnects bends under mechanical strain, demonstrating stretchable semiconductor packaging and advanced flexible electronics technology.","file":{"fid":"265485","name":"Chip-under-strain_Fast-and-Curious_cream-background.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/10\/Chip-under-strain_Fast-and-Curious_cream-background.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/10\/Chip-under-strain_Fast-and-Curious_cream-background.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":250290,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/10\/Chip-under-strain_Fast-and-Curious_cream-background.jpeg?itok=agg5Kg_r"}}},"media_ids":["681125"],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:dwatson@ece.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EDan Watson\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["dwatson@ece.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}