2D Material to Compute or Store Data
Multiple research teams have developed prototype devices based on 2D materials. However, none have displayed the ability to compute or store data
By combining atomically thin devices with conventional microchips, scientists have created brain-mimicking hybrid electronics. This combination can help implement neural-network artificial-intelligence systems in a far more energy-efficient way than standard electronics, a new study finds.
As electronics become tinier and tinier, scientists are investigating atomically thin 2D materials for next-generation electronics. For example, graphene consists of single layers of carbon atoms, and molybdenum disulfide is made of a sheet of molybdenum atoms sandwiched between two layers of sulfur atoms.
“Two-dimensional materials not only have state-of-the-art electrical performance but also have outstanding thermal, mechanical, optical, and chemical properties, which could result in novel applications that now don’t exist,” says study senior author Mario Lanza, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
This hybrid 2D/CMOS microchip shows promise for memristive applications.MARIO LANZA
Multiple research teams have developed prototype devices based on 2D materials. However, none have displayed the ability to compute or store data. In addition, their fabrication mostly relied on synthesis and processing methods that are not compatible with standard industry techniques. Furthermore, manipulating single-layer 2D materials is challenging because defects can occur when transferring them from the surfaces on which they are grown onto substrates more useful for applications. These defects reduce device consistency and yield.
Now scientists have created what they say is the first densely integrated microchip fabricated with 2D materials, all using processes compatible with the semiconductor industry. “We not only achieved excellent properties but also high yield and low variability,” Lanza says.
Source IEEE spectrum – Research Source: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
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