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Ultra-Thin Alternative To Silicon

Posted by Soulskill on from the delicious-thin-mint-technology dept.

An anonymous reader writes "There's good news in the search for the next generation of semiconductors. Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley have successfully integrated ultra-thin layers of the semiconductor indium arsenide onto a silicon substrate to create a nanoscale transistor with excellent electronic properties (abstract). A member of the III–V family of semiconductors, indium arsenide offers several advantages as an alternative to silicon, including superior electron mobility and velocity, which makes it an outstanding candidate for future high-speed, low-power electronic devices."

5 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Four words why this is useless. by the_raptor · · Score: 4, Informative

    Restriction of Hazardous Substances.

    There are already a bunch of non-substitutable components that can't be used because of RoHS. Adding arsenic to make faster electronics is just not going to fly (it doesn't matter if current methods are just as toxic, everyone knows about Arsenic and RoHS is half PR). Researchers should be concentrating on making electronics less toxic so we don't keep poisoning African and Asian kids (working for electronics "recyclers") with last years iPhones.

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    CINC, 4th Penguin Legion
    1. Re:Four words why this is useless. by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We're talking about a 10nm layer across the surface of a chip - that's about a square centimeter. If anyone seriously complains about 50% of this being Arsenic, I would happily scrape it off and eat it in front of them. I don't think it would be a quantity large enough for the human eye to see.

    2. Re:Four words why this is useless. by bertok · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's just under 3 micrograms of arsenic. According to our trusted interwebs source, wikipedia: "The acute minimal lethal dose of arsenic in adults is estimated to be 70 to 200 mg". In other words, each chip contains about 1/25,000th of the lethal dose, in a non-soluble form.

      I'll think you'll be fine.

  2. Why thin? by DriedClexler · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought the purpose of silicone was to make the tits look *thicker*?

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    Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
    1. Re:Why thin? by the_other_chewey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      silicon != silicone, dammit.