Silicon No More?

[EnderAndrew]

Koreans eye silicon replacement

Correspondents in Seoul

SEPTEMBER 05, 2005

A TEAM of South Korean scientists say they have developed a new technology that could replace silicon-based semiconductors.

The team led by Kim Hyun-Tak of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) said they had successfully manufactured what is known as a "Mott Insulator."

 

Named after Sir Nevill Mott, a British scientist who won the 1977 Nobel Physics Prize, Mott insulators, although metal-based, do not normally conduct electrical charges.

 

Subjected to a high-voltage shock, however, Mott insulators can conduct electricity at relatively low temperatures of 67 degrees.

 

"Silicon generates heat, making it impossible to place ultra-thin circuits on chips but Mott metals do not generate heat while carrying out the same job of semiconductors," ETRI President Lim Joo-Hwan said.

 

"Semiconductors of the 20th century will eventually give way to Mott insulators," Kim Hyun-Tak said.

 

He said Mott insulators could open a new market worth $US100 billion ($131 billion) per year globally, including displays and new devices that would not use silicon-based semiconductors.

 

By making use of such Mott metal insulators, chips with five-nanometre circuits would be possible, he said. Existing semiconductor chips can theoretically carry 40-nanometre circuits but leading edge products on the market currently run at around 90-nanometres. One nanometre is one billionth of a metre.

 

Samsung Electronics, the worlds top memory chipmaker, stunned the world last year by unveiling the most advanced flash memory chips based on 60-nanometre circuits.

 

Experts said this level likely represents the technical limit for miniaturising circuits with silicon-based semiconductor chips.

[Child of Flame]

I thought this was about breast implants thanks to your typo in the title.

 

[-10 Spellmar Influence]

 

This is really cool too though.

 

I wonder how you'd invest in such things?

[Lucius]

I thought Endar was getting implants, how disappointing. <_<

[taks]

they should learn to use proper terminology in such articles... one of thse days.

 

oh, in point, the "circuits" in semiconductor devices are not limited to about 40 nm. the channels (aka features), however, are. the circuits are much larger, consisting of many channels. also, it's not really silicon that is limiting the channel size, but the mask process, which is created using UV light.

 

taks

[mkreku]

Hey! Where did my beautiful tri-boob post disappear to??

[taks]

it got blipped while i was posting... i saw it, then hit "submit" and it was gone...

 

taks

[Cantousent]

I deleted it and then something distracted me before I informed you. Stop posting pictures of bare chested, three breasted women.

 

No more nudes! That goes for everyone.

[metadigital]

I thought Endar was getting implants, how disappointing.  <_<

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ditto, and with the first line:

Koreans eye silicon replacement

I thought there was some sort of cosmetic eye surgery going on, especially WRT the urge of asians to add a crease into their eyelids (to look more occidental).

[Cantousent]

No.