Ultra-efficient semiconductor could power next-gen electronics
Technology
Semiconductors aren't perfect. A new material could offer an alternative
(Web Desk) - Superconductors that work at room temperature and ambient pressure are the tech industry's Holy Grail — these undiscovered but much desired materials could make electronics so efficient that quantum computing might become ubiquitous and even small irritations like your smartphone getting too hot after using it for an hour disappear.
But now, scientists think they might have found a different material that does pretty much the same thing.
In a new paper in the journal Science, researchers claim to have discovered a semiconductor that acts like a superconductor while current is directed into it.
The reason why this is such a big deal is that while semiconductors are a vital component of modern technology because they conduct electricity and push it one direction, these materials can experience resistance, reducing their efficiency, and produce heat (see too hot smartphone), meaning they need to keep cool to work at their best.
That's why data centers suck up so much energy — they need it to keep all the electronics cold enough to run.
Superconductors, in contrast, have no resistance, but they only function in very specific situations, such as in absolute zero temperature or under crushing pressure.
The new paper claims to hold a solution. Scientists at Columbia University explain how they stacked up a material known as Re6Se8Cl2, a two-dimensional semiconductor, to create a lattice structure.
They then sent vibrations through the material, creating tiny quantum particles call phonons.
The phonons, in turn, combined with particles called excitons to form an entirely new particle: exciton-phonons.
Those particles are able to move incredibly fast — faster than electrical current goes through silicon. They also were efficient, generating very little heat.
In the paper, the scientists took a cautiously optimistic stance. They explain that the material could provide a more efficient basis for electronics that can operate at room temperature, which would also allow devices to get exponentially smaller.
Ultimately, the use of Re6Se8Cl2 as a semiconductor "could herald an era of essentially lossless nanoelectronics," they said.
