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Black Phosphorus Could Spur the Next Wave of Tiny Transistors
Zothecula writes: Researchers at McGill University and Université de Montréal have provided insight into another promising candidate that could help chip designers keep pace with Moore's Law: black phosphorus — a stable form of the element that can be separated into individual atomic layers, known as phosphorene (abstract). "Phosphorene has sparked growing interest because it overcomes many of the challenges of using graphene in electronics. Unlike graphene, which acts like a metal, black phosphorus is a natural semiconductor: it can be readily switched on and off." This new research found that "electrons are able to be pulled into a sheet of charge which is two-dimensional, even though they occupy a volume that is several atomic layers in thickness." It's an important step toward developing a manufacturing process for transistors made of this material.
black and red phosphorus have melting point of 590 degrees C.
A concern for those running black phosphorus Itanium3's in their laptop
What does the melting point of an element have to do with structures formed from atoms of that element? The melting point of black phosphorus is 590 C.