Home > Press > Liquid metal nano printing set to revolutionize electronics: Creating integrated circuits just atoms thick
 |
Abstract:
A new technique using liquid metals to create integrated circuits that are just atoms thick could lead to the next big advance for electronics.
Liquid metal nano printing set to revolutionize electronics: Creating integrated circuits just atoms thick
Melbourne, Australia | Posted on February 18th, 2017The process opens the way for the production of large wafers around 1.5 nanometres in depth (a sheet of paper, by comparison, is 100,000nm thick).
Other techniques have proven unreliable in terms of quality, difficult to scale up and function only at very high temperatures -- 550 degrees or more.
Distinguished Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, from the School of Engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, led the project, which also included colleagues from RMIT and researchers from CSIRO, Monash University, North Carolina State University and the University of California.
He said the electronics industry had hit a barrier.
"The fundamental technology of car engines has not progressed since 1920 and now the same is happening to electronics. Mobile phones and computers are no more powerful than five years ago.
"That is why this new 2D printing technique is so important -- creating many layers of incredibly thin electronic chips on the same surface dramatically increases processing power and reduces costs.
"It will allow for the next revolution in electronics."
Benjamin Carey, a researcher with RMIT and the CSIRO, said creating electronic wafers just atoms thick could overcome the limitations of current chip production.
It could also produce materials that were extremely bendable, paving the way for flexible electronics.
"However, none of the current technologies are able to create homogenous surfaces of atomically thin semiconductors on large surface areas that are useful for the industrial scale fabrication of chips.
"Our solution is to use the metals gallium and indium, which have a low melting point.
"These metals produce an atomically thin layer of oxide on their surface that naturally protects them. It is this thin oxide which we use in our fabrication method.
"By rolling the liquid metal, the oxide layer can be transferred on to an electronic wafer, which is then sulphurised. The surface of the wafer can be pre-treated to form individual transistors.
"We have used this novel method to create transistors and photo-detectors of very high gain and very high fabrication reliability in large scale."
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Distinguished Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh
61-488-332-245
Copyright © RMIT University
If you have a comment, please Contact us.Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
| Related Links |
| Related News Press |
News and information
Researchers develop molecular qubits that communicate at telecom frequencies October 3rd, 2025
Next-generation quantum communication October 3rd, 2025
"Nanoreactor" cage uses visible light for catalytic and ultra-selective cross-cycloadditions October 3rd, 2025
Possible Futures
Spinel-type sulfide semiconductors to operate the next-generation LEDs and solar cells For solar-cell absorbers and green-LED source October 3rd, 2025
Chip Technology
Lab to industry: InSe wafer-scale breakthrough for future electronics August 8th, 2025
A 1960s idea inspires NBI researchers to study hitherto inaccessible quantum states June 6th, 2025
Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025
Optical computing/Photonic computing
ICFO researchers overcome long-standing bottleneck in single photon detection with twisted 2D materials August 8th, 2025
Programmable electron-induced color router array May 14th, 2025
Nanophotonic platform boosts efficiency of nonlinear-optical quantum teleportation April 25th, 2025
Groundbreaking research unveils unified theory for optical singularities in photonic microstructures December 13th, 2024
Sensors
Sensors innovations for smart lithium-based batteries: advancements, opportunities, and potential challenges August 8th, 2025
Quantum engineers ‘squeeze’ laser frequency combs to make more sensitive gas sensors January 17th, 2025
Nanoelectronics
Lab to industry: InSe wafer-scale breakthrough for future electronics August 8th, 2025
Interdisciplinary: Rice team tackles the future of semiconductors Multiferroics could be the key to ultralow-energy computing October 6th, 2023
Key element for a scalable quantum computer: Physicists from Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University demonstrate electron transport on a quantum chip September 23rd, 2022
Reduced power consumption in semiconductor devices September 23rd, 2022
Discoveries
Researchers develop molecular qubits that communicate at telecom frequencies October 3rd, 2025
Next-generation quantum communication October 3rd, 2025
"Nanoreactor" cage uses visible light for catalytic and ultra-selective cross-cycloadditions October 3rd, 2025
Announcements
Rice membrane extracts lithium from brines with greater speed, less waste October 3rd, 2025
Researchers develop molecular qubits that communicate at telecom frequencies October 3rd, 2025
Next-generation quantum communication October 3rd, 2025
"Nanoreactor" cage uses visible light for catalytic and ultra-selective cross-cycloadditions October 3rd, 2025
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Spinel-type sulfide semiconductors to operate the next-generation LEDs and solar cells For solar-cell absorbers and green-LED source October 3rd, 2025
Rice membrane extracts lithium from brines with greater speed, less waste October 3rd, 2025
Industrial
Quantum interference in molecule-surface collisions February 28th, 2025
Boron nitride nanotube fibers get real: Rice lab creates first heat-tolerant, stable fibers from wet-spinning process June 24th, 2022
Nanotubes: a promising solution for advanced rubber cables with 60% less conductive filler June 1st, 2022
Photonics/Optics/Lasers
ICFO researchers overcome long-standing bottleneck in single photon detection with twisted 2D materials August 8th, 2025
Institute for Nanoscience hosts annual proposal planning meeting May 16th, 2025
Printing/Lithography/Inkjet/Inks/Bio-printing/Dyes
Presenting: Ultrasound-based printing of 3D materials—potentially inside the body December 8th, 2023
Simple ballpoint pen can write custom LEDs August 11th, 2023
Disposable electronics on a simple sheet of paper October 7th, 2022
 |
||
 |
||
| The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
 |
||
|
|
||
| Premium Products | ||
 |
||
|
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
 |
||
|
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||
|
|
||