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posted by janrinok on Saturday December 10 2016, @02:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-just-put-it-down-and-now-I-can't-find-it dept.

An Anonymous Coward has provided a story entitled: This Tiny Electronic Chip Is Just 3 Atoms Thick

A tiny electronic chip just three atoms thick could yield advanced circuits that are powerful, flexible and transparent, researchers said in a new study. The scientists said the chip demonstrates a new way to mass-produce atomically thin materials and electronics.

These materials could be used to develop electronic displays on windows or windshields, along with powerful microchips in which circuitry spreads not just two-dimensionally but also rises three-dimensionally, the researchers said.

For more than 50 years, silicon has been the backbone of the electronics industry. However, as silicon transistors reach the limit of miniaturization, scientists worldwide are investigating new materials that could serve as the foundation of even tinier devices. In the past decade or so, researchers discovered that atomically thin materials could serve as the basis of electronic devices. For instance, sheets of graphene — a material related to the "lead" in pencils — are each just one carbon atom thick. Graphene is an excellent conductor of electricity, making it ideal for use in wiring.

[...] Instead of graphene, therefore, some researchers are exploring molybdenite, or molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), for use in advanced electronics. Molybdenum disulfide is a semiconductor, and the new study finds that molybdenum disulfide transistors "can be switched on and off significantly better than graphene and somewhat better than silicon," said study senior author Eric Pop, an electrical engineer at Stanford University in California.

[...] To create their ultrathin chip, the scientists incinerated small amounts of molybdenum and sulfur and then used the resulting vapor to form molecule-thin layers of molybdenum disulfide on a variety of surfaces, such as glass or silicon. "We went through a lot of painstaking trial and error to find the right combination of temperature and pressure to help grow these layers in a repeatable manner," Pop said.

Using this new technique, the researchers manufactured single-molecule-thick molybdenum disulfide chips measuring about 0.06 inches (1.5 millimeters) wide. These chips are each about 25 million times wider than they are thick, the researchers said.


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:08AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @05:08AM (#439574)

    2:35 a.m.: MoS2 chip is very thin.
    3:59 a.m.: Japan is gluing chips to people with Alzheimer's.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:09AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 10 2016, @09:09AM (#439632)

    It's called "progress". Get used to it becau ... [the conclusion of this message was broadcast to your hologram display]