Transistor radios tinier than a grain of sand, made using nanotechnology, can not only tune in to the traffic report, but may end up outperforming current silicon-based electronics, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

The researchers made the microscopic radios out of carbon nanotubes — tiny strands of carbon atoms — and say in theory they could lead to faster devices. They overcame a series of obstacles that have defeated efforts to make nano-radios, including getting amplification, by making their devices on quartz wafers. “Our goal is not to make tiny radios per se, but really to develop nanotubes as a higher-performing semiconductor,” said John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois. He said the devices are meant to showcase a new way of making carbon nanotubes in perfectly aligned rows, much like strands of silky hair that have been combed flat.

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