NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - IBM announced Friday it had built the first electronic circuit around a carbon molecule, which could potentially herald the next generation of semiconductors.

The work, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, involved building the first complete electronic integrated circuit around a single "carbon nanotube" molecule, which is 50,000 times thinner than a human hair.

To date, semiconductor manufacturers have relied on silicon chips, attempting to find new ways to increase their power, while shrinking their size. But many scientists see that strategy coming to an end, IBM said.

Nanotechnology, a field that involves working at the molecular level, has been viewed as a possible future of the semiconductor industry, IBM said.

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