Atomically Thin Device Promises New Class of Electronics: Tunable Electrical Behavior Not Previously
9 replies, posted
[url]http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131021162653.htm[/url]
[QUOTE][B]As electronics approach the atomic scale, researchers are increasingly successful at developing atomically thin, virtually two-dimensional materials that could usher in the next generation of computing. Integrating these materials to create necessary circuits, however, has remained a challenge.[/B]
Northwestern University researchers have now taken a significant step toward fabricating complex nanoscale electronics. By integrating two atomically thin materials -- molybdenum disulfide and carbon nanotubes -- they have created a p-n heterojunction diode, an interface between two types of semiconducting materials.
"The p-n junction diode is among the most ubiquitous components of modern electronics," said Mark Hersam, Bette and Neison Harris Chair in Teaching Excellence in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and director of the Northwestern University Materials Research Center. "By creating this device using atomically thin materials, we not only realize the benefits of conventional diodes but also achieve the ability to electronically tune and customize the device characteristics. We anticipate that this work will enable new types of electronic functionality and could be applied to the growing number of emerging two-dimensional materials."
The isolation over the past decade of atomically thin two-dimensional crystals -- such as graphene, a single-atom-thick carbon lattice -- has prompted researchers to stack two or more distinct two-dimensional materials to create high-performance, ultrathin electronic devices. While significant progress has been made in this direction, one of the most important electronic components -- the p-n junction diode -- has been notably absent.
Among the most widely used electronic structures, the p-n junction diode forms the basis of a number of technologies, including solar cells, light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, computers, and lasers.
In addition to its novel electronic functionality, the p-n heterojunction diode is also highly sensitive to light. This attribute has allowed the authors to fabricate and demonstrate an ultrafast photodetector with an electronically tunable wavelength response.[/QUOTE]
[quote]Mark Hersam, Bette and Neison Harris Chair in Teaching Excellence in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and director of the Northwestern University Materials Research Center.[/quote]
Well that just rolls right off the tongue
There have been quite a few quiet discoveries this year. I think we are on the brink of a new age of electronic progress.
[QUOTE=frozensoda;42646402]There have been quite a few quiet discoveries this year. I think we are on the brink of a new age of electronic progress.[/QUOTE]
We'd better be, considering the rumblings I've been hearing lately about Moore's Law running out within the next decade.
[QUOTE=froztshock;42646528]We'd better be, considering the rumblings I've been hearing lately about Moore's Law running out within the next decade.[/QUOTE]
Sooner than that, probably. You can only make transistors so small.
[QUOTE=Murkat;42646211]Well that just rolls right off the tongue[/QUOTE]
Just shorten it to the TEDMSENMCSEASNUMRC.
[QUOTE=frozensoda;42646402]There have been quite a few quiet discoveries this year. I think we are on the brink of a new age of electronic progress.[/QUOTE]
I'm studying for a CS bachelors at the moments and I'm constantly fearing a sudden rapid technology revolution that will invalidate all my studies.
[QUOTE=Rofl my Waff;42648547]I'm studying for a CS bachelors at the moments and I'm constantly fearing a sudden rapid technology revolution that will invalidate all my studies.[/QUOTE]
Your knowledge won't be any more invalid than computer engineering students' were when clockspeed multipliers were discovered, I reckon.
I'm curious how they'll adjust the properties of these junctions (Frequency response, Vf, etc), normally you just adjust the amount of dopant in larger devices, but this seems to be completely beyond that.
4-way SLI with GTX 780s and an i7 Sandy Bridge isn't enough anymore. I need more power. MOAR. :v:
[QUOTE=Reds;42648502]Just shorten it to the TEDMSENMCSEASNUMRC.[/QUOTE]
Try saying it out loud. Sounds kinda demonic.
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