Semiconductors, which are the basic building blocks of transistors, microprocessors, lasers, and LEDs, have driven advances in computing, memory, communications, and lighting technologies since the mid-20th century. Recently discovered two-dimensional materials, which feature many superlative properties, have the potential to advance these technologies, but creating 2-D devices with both good electrical contacts and stable performance […]
Semiconductors
2D Insulators with Ferromagnetism Are Rare; Researchers Just Identified a New One
Collaborating scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Princeton University have discovered a new layered ferromagnetic semiconductor, a rare type of material that holds great promise for next-generation electronic technologies. As the name implies, semiconductors are the Goldilocks of electrically conductive materials– not a metal, and not an insulator, […]
Semiconductor Sphere: May the Fastest Chips Win
R2-D2 and C-3PO, the robots in the popular movie Star Wars, gave us a glimpse of the artificial intelligence (AI) robots of the future. While some prefer the term “deep learning” over AI, both names pretty much mean the same thing. In recent years, AI robots have become a reality. Sophia, a female robot built […]
Energy-Saving New LED Phosphor
Light emitting diodes or LEDs are only able to produce light of a certain colour. However, white light can be created using different colour mixing processes. “In a white LED, red and yellow-green phosphors are excited by the light from a blue diode. The particles emit light in the red and green range, and in […]
Semiconductor Scientists Discover Effect That Was Thought Impossible
A physical effect known as superinjection underlies modern light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers. For decades this effect was believed to occur only in semiconductor heterostructures — that is, structures composed of two or more semiconductor materials. Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have found superinjection to be possible in homostructures, which are […]
2D Gold Quantum Dots Are Atomically Tunable with Nanotubes
Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are promising for quantum computing and future electronics. Now, researchers can convert metallic gold into semiconductor and customize the material atom-by-atom on boron nitride nanotubes. Gold is a conductive material already widely used as interconnects in electronic devices. As electronics have gotten smaller and more powerful, the semiconducting materials involved have also […]
Researchers Discover an Economical Way to Produce High-Performance Thin Films for Electronics
Researchers at Missouri S&T have found an unprecedented, economical method for creating high-performance inorganic thin films, or “epitaxial” films, used in the manufacture of semiconductors for flexible electronics, LEDs and solar cells. The research is published today in Science in the paper titled “Spin Coating Epitaxial Films.” “We’ve come up with a super-easy method that has never […]
The Golden Path Towards New Two-Dimensional Semiconductors
Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are promising for quantum computing and future electronics. Now, researchers can convert metallic gold into semiconductor and customize the material atom-by-atom on boron nitride nanotubes. Gold is a conductive material already widely used as interconnects in electronic devices. As electronics have gotten smaller and more powerful, the semiconducting materials involved have also […]
Measurement of Semiconductor Material Quality Is Now 100,000 Times More Sensitive
The enhanced power of the new measuring technique to characterize materials at scales much smaller than any current technologies will accelerate the discovery and investigation of 2D, micro- and nanoscale materials. Being able to accurately measure semiconductor properties of materials in small volumes helps engineers determine the range of applications for which these materials may […]
Spin Lasers Facilitate Rapid Data Transfer
Engineers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have developed a novel concept for rapid data transfer via optical fibre cables. In current systems, a laser transmits light signals through the cables and information is coded in the modulation of light intensity. The new system, a semiconductor spin laser, is based on a modulation of light polarisation instead. Published […]