Carbon dots have been proven to be good insulators and increase the efficiency of semiconductors. They plan to introduce these in factories in Taiwan soon.
An international team of scientists has found a way to turn ordinary coal into a high-quality material for electronic devices. The results of the research were published in the journal Nature.
Collaborators from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) have uncovered a previously unknown property of coal, which was itself considered bulky and harmful to human health. Environment. It was possible to make very thin (only a few nanometers) high-purity carbon disks from charcoal.
“These materials have opened up the possibility of creating miniaturized electronics with extraordinary performance,” said Professor Qing Cao.
Scientists are increasingly trying to create more productive and energy-efficient devices by reducing their size. Ultimately, they want to create devices that are only one or two atoms thick. This requires ultrathin semiconductors, and although significant progress has been made in their creation, the miniaturized insulators required to create the thinnest transistors and memristors (the most important components of next-generation microelectronics) are the stumbling block.
As the researchers assure, the same disks made of coal with a thickness of a few atoms and which they call “carbon dots” will help in this regard. From these, you can assemble membranes that will act as insulators, preventing current leakage, as well as improving the performance and efficiency of the electronics.
By inserting new carbon insulators into 2D transistors, a team led by Professor Cao achieved operating speeds more than twice normal while reducing power consumption. This advancement speeds up operations while providing increased data storage reliability. Scientists believe that such features will greatly help in the development of artificial intelligence. But first, carbon dot technology needs to be brought to practical application and commercial production.
Previously, US scientists reported the development of the world’s first semiconductor made of graphene instead of silicon. They compared their success to the Wright brothers’ creation of the first airplane.
Source: Focus
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