Nanowerk March 9, 2021 The demands placed by CMOS logic circuits at their ultimate scaling limits could be satisfied by a number of layered 2D materials. Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is widely considered to be the most promising gate insulator for meeting challenging requirements for gate insulators. An international team of researchers (Austria, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, Saudi Arabia) assess the material parameters and performance limits of hBN. They compared experimental and theoretical tunnel currents through ultrathin layers of hBN and other 2D gate insulators, including the ideal case of defect-free hBN. Though its properties make hBN a candidate for many […]
Tag Archives: Microelectronics
Researchers create novel photonic chip
Phys.org February 2, 2021 Photonic Digital‐to‐analog converters (DAC) enable a seamless signal conversion with respect to both energy efficiency and short signal delay. Using a silicon photonic chip platform, a team of researchers (Washington University, UCLA) has developed a coherent parallel photonic DAC concept along with a 4‐bit prototype capable of performing as DAC without optic–electric–optic domain crossing. This guarantees a linear intensity weighting among bits when operating at high sampling rates (50 GHz), featuring an exceptional sampling efficiency (> 100 GS −1 ) and small footprint (≈1 mm2) in an 8‐bit implementation. The photonic DAC enables seamless interfaces of next‐generation data processing hardware […]
Nanosheet-based electronics could be one drop away
Nanowerk January 8, 2021 Researchers in Japan overcame the “coffee ring” effect of drop casting by controlled convection using a pipette and a hotplate. They found that dropping a solution containing 2D nanosheets with a simple pipette onto a substrate heated on a hotplate to a temperature of about 100°C, followed by removal of the solution, causes the nanosheets to come together in about 30 seconds to form a tile-like layer. They demonstrated controlled thermal convection by depositing particle solutions of titanium dioxide, calcium niobate, ruthenium oxide, and graphene oxide. They also tried different sizes and shapes of a variety […]
Stretching diamond for next-generation microelectronics
Science Daily December 31, 2020 An international team of researchers (Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, USA – UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MIT) microfabricated single-crystalline diamond bridge structures with ~1 micrometer length by ~100 nanometer width and achieved sample-wide uniform elastic strains under uniaxial tensile loading at room temperature. They demonstrated deep elastic straining of diamond microbridge arrays. The ultra large, highly controllable elastic strains can fundamentally change the bulk band structures of diamond, including a substantial calculated bandgap reduction as much as ~2 electron volts. Their findings have shown the potential of strained diamonds as prime candidates for advanced […]
Liquid metals come to the rescue of semiconductors
EurekAlert October 11, 2020 In theory the two-dimensional materials can result in transistors that do not waste energy during their on/off switching. However, one of the barriers with the current technologies is that the deposited ultra-thin films are full of grain boundaries so that the charge carriers are bounced back from them and hence the resistive loss increases. An international team of researchers (Australia, UCLA) has developed a new method to eliminate grain boundaries using gallium metal in its liquid state. With its low melting point (29.8 deg C) its surface is atomically smooth when melted providing many free electrons […]
Paper-thin gallium oxide transistor handles more than 8,000 volts
Science Daily May 29, 2020 To achieve passivation in gallium arsenide a team of researchers in the US (SUNY Buffalo, Stanford University) added a layer of SU-8, an epoxy-based polymer commonly used in microelectronics. In tests the transistor could handle 8,032 volts before breaking down, which is more than similarly designed transistors made of silicon carbide or gallium nitride. The higher the breakdown voltage, the more power a device can handle. Simulations suggest the transistor has a field strength of more than 10 million volts per centimeter. The transistor could lead to smaller and more efficient electronic systems that control […]
Novel tin ‘bubbles’ spur advances in the development of integrated chips
EurekAlert April 15, 2020 Low density materials can control plasma properties of laser absorption, which can enhance quantum beam generation. Researchers in Japan propose a target source based on a hollow sub-millimeter microcapsule fabricated from polyelectrolyte cationic and anionic surfactant on air bubbles. The lightweight microcapsules acted as a scaffold for surface coating by tin (IV) oxide nanoparticles. In a proof of concept study the laser conversion efficiency at 13.5 nm 2% bandwidth from the tin-coated microcapsule (0.8%) was competitive compared with bulk tin (1%). According to the researchers microcapsule aggregates could be utilized as a potential small scale/compact EUV source […]
Introducing the light-operated hard drives of tomorrow
Phys.org March 10, 2020 An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Spain) present a method for reversible, light-induced tuning of ferromagnetism at room temperature using a halide perovskite/oxide perovskite heterostructure. They showed that photoinduced charge carriers from the CH3NH3PbI3 photovoltaic perovskite efficiently dope the thin La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 film and decrease the magnetization of the ferromagnetic state, allowing rapid rewriting of the magnetic bit. The method is still experimental, but it may be used to build the next generation of memory-storage systems, with higher capacities and with low energy demands. The research opens avenues for magnetooptical memory devices…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
New encapsulation technique protects electronic properties of sensitive materials
Science Daily January 29, 2020 Indium selenide and gallium selenide are emerging two-dimensional semiconductors with appealing electronic properties. However, they are sensitive to air and device fabrication processes which induce structural damage and hamper their intrinsic properties. An international team of researchers (USA -Columbia University, Germany, Japan) has demonstrated an encapsulating technique where two layers of hBNhexagonal boron nitride (hBN) entirely covers the 2D layers of InSe and GaSe passivating them from the environment and isolating them from the charge disorder at the SiO2 surface. They demonstrated a strong and reproducible photo response and long-term stability. The technique can open […]
Kick-starting Moore’s Law? New ‘synthetic’ method for making microchips could help
Phys.org November 18, 2019 By using specially treated silicon surfaces to tailor the crystals’ size and shape, an international team of researchers (USA – Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, Naval Research Laboratory, South Korea) has found a potentially faster and less expensive way to produce next-generation semiconductor crystals for microchips. They doused silicon substrates with phosphine gas and grew crystals on it. They discovered that the reaction of phosphine with the silicon support caused the crystals to grow as horizontal “ribbons” as opposed to the planar and triangularly shaped sheets. The research could enable new scientific discoveries and accelerate […]