2024-01-08 20:15:49
Coal is an abundant resource in countries like the United States, but unfortunately, the material has contributed to global warming through its use as a fossil fuel. As nations shift to cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy, coal is losing its traditional utility. However, there could be another way, much more sophisticated than simply burning it to take advantage of its heat.
Joint research by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, these three US institutions, and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has shown how carbon can play a vital role in next generation electronic devices.
“We normally think of carbon as something ordinary and dirty, but the processing techniques we have developed can transform it into materials of great purity and only a couple of atoms thick,” highlights Qing Cao of the University of Illinois and a member of the research and development team. “Their unique atomic structures and properties are ideal for making some of the smallest possible electronic components with performance superior to today’s best.”
The new process developed by the NETL converts a type of carbon into nanometric carbon disks called “carbon dots” that, as the research group has shown, can connect to form membranes as thin as the thickness of an atom for electronic components that will be fundamental for a new and more advanced generation in the field of electronics.
In the current quest for smaller, faster and more efficient electronics, the last step will be devices made from materials just one or two atoms thick; it is impossible to miniaturize devices below this limit. Due to their small dimensions, devices of this type work much faster and consume much less energy than those of more traditional dimensions.
Although ultrathin semiconductors have been studied extensively, it is also necessary to have insulators as thick as one or two atoms. Only in this way will it be possible to build electronic devices of tiny size that work. Insulators are materials that block electrical current.
Carbon layers with a thickness of one or two atoms and with disordered atomic structures can function as an excellent insulator for building two-dimensional devices (made from a sheet with the thickness of a single atom or little more).
The team, consisting of Cao, Fufei An of the University of Illinois and others, has shown that such carbon layers can form from carbon dots derived from charcoal. To demonstrate its capabilities, the team prepared two examples of two-dimensional devices.
The team used carbon layers derived from carbon in two-dimensional transistors built on the semimetal graphene or the semiconductor molybdenum disulfide to enable a device operating speed more than twice that of conventional ones and with lower power consumption.
Another application that Cao’s group has studied are memory resistors, electronic components capable of both storing data and operating with them and which are emerging as a key piece to improve many artificial intelligence systems.
A wafer containing memory resistors made of high-quality two-dimensional carbon processed from a type of carbon, of which two samples appear here. (Image: The Grainger College of Engineering at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
These devices (memoresistors) store and represent data by modulating a conductive filament formed by electrochemical reactions between a pair of electrodes with the insulator interspersed.
The researchers discovered that the adoption of ultrathin layers of carbon derived from carbon as an insulator allows the rapid formation of said filament with low energy consumption to enable high speed of operation of the device and with low consumption. Furthermore, the quality also increases.
The study is titled “Ultrathin Quasi-2D Amorphous Carbon Dielectric Prepared from Solution Precursor for Nanoelectronics.” And it has been published in the academic journal Communications Engineering. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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