https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Scientists have long sought to make semiconductors—vital components in computer chips and solar cells—that are also superconducting, thereby enhancing their speed and energy efficiency and enabling new quantum technologies. However, achieving superconductivity in semiconductor materials such as silicon and germanium has proved challenging due to difficulty in maintaining an optimal atomic structure with the desired conduction behavior. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-scientists-semiconductor-superconducting.html Condensed Matter Thu, 30 Oct 2025 06:00:08 EDT news680887201 A research team has synthesized three-dimensionally shaped molecules containing an internal twist and shown that they possess the properties of organic semiconductors. By introducing methyl groups into a planar molecule containing several thiophene units and forcing it into a twisted conformation, the team created a solid-state structure in which electricity can flow three-dimensionally. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-molecules-strategy-semiconductor-materials.html Nanomaterials Wed, 25 Jun 2025 08:49:03 EDT news670060141 A research team has successfully produced eco-friendly solar hydrogen for the first time based on a quantum semiconductor nanocluster, which is the world's smallest inorganic semiconductor material. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-smallest-inorganic-semiconductor-enables-eco.html Nanomaterials Mon, 19 May 2025 11:57:10 EDT news666874628 Researchers have advanced a decades-old challenge in the field of organic semiconductors, opening new possibilities for the future of electronics. The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge and the Eindhoven University of Technology, have created an organic semiconductor that forces electrons to move in a spiral pattern, which could improve the efficiency of OLED displays in television and smartphone screens, or power next-generation computing technologies such as spintronics and quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-power-generation-electronics.html Condensed Matter Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:00:19 EDT news661066262 Photomechanical materials made of photochromic crystals, which change their molecular structure reversibly in response to light, have the potential to impact fields from semiconductors to pharmaceuticals. For the first time in the world, an Osaka Metropolitan University team has developed a crystal patterning method demonstrating that it is possible to control the orientation of photochromic crystals known as diarylethenes. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-diarylethene-crystal.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 23 Jan 2025 11:45:03 EST news656855101 A research team has discovered a new process to induce chirality in halide perovskite semiconductors, which could open the door to cutting-edge electronic applications. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-effort-halide-perovskites-distance.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 28 Oct 2024 10:35:03 EDT news649330501 A research team led by Director Jo Moon-Ho of the Center for Van der Waals Quantum Solids within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has implemented a novel method to achieve epitaxial growth of 1D metallic materials with a width of less than 1 nm. The group applied this process to develop a new structure for 2D semiconductor logic circuits. Notably, they used the 1D metals as a gate electrode of the ultra-miniaturized transistor. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-scientists-nanometer-sized-transistors.html Nanomaterials Wed, 03 Jul 2024 05:00:01 EDT news639150346 Researchers from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have designed Slater-Pauling (S-P) Heusler materials with a unique structure resembling a Rubik's cube. These materials exhibit semiconductor-like properties and have potential in thermoelectric applications. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-unveils-rubik-cube-like-heusler-materials.html Condensed Matter Thu, 21 Dec 2023 10:34:02 EST news622377241 A team of researchers led by Professor Young S. Park at UNIST's Department of Chemistry has achieved a significant breakthrough in the field of organic semiconductors. Their successful synthesis and characterization of a novel molecule called "BNBN anthracene" has opened up new possibilities for the development of advanced electronic devices. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-breakthrough-semiconductor-synthesis-paves-advanced.html Materials Science Fri, 15 Dec 2023 09:45:03 EST news621855902 A research team under the direction of Prof. Dr. Felix Deschler at Heidelberg University's Institute for Physical Chemistry has developed a semiconductor that efficiently generates light and simultaneously gives that light a certain spin. According to the researchers, the so-called chiral perovskite material has great technological potential that can be used for applications in optoelectronics, telecommunications, and information processing. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-organic-inorganic-semiconductor-generates-circularly-polarized.html Condensed Matter Thu, 05 Oct 2023 10:43:07 EDT news615721385 New research has unveiled the fatigue resistance of 2D hybrid materials. These materials, known for their low cost and high performance, have long-held promise across semiconductor fields. However, their durability under cyclic loading conditions remained a mystery—until now. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-explores-durability-2d-hybrid-materials.html Nanomaterials Tue, 25 Jul 2023 14:38:03 EDT news609514681 A collaboration of Australian and European physicists predict that layered electronic 2D semiconductors can host a curious quantum phase of matter called the "supersolid." https://phys.org/news/2023-03-solid-superfluid-supersolid-state-layered.html Condensed Matter Thu, 30 Mar 2023 09:14:04 EDT news599386442 Perovskite solar cells have been the subject of much research as the next generation of photovoltaic devices. However, many challenges remain to be overcome for the practical application. One of them concerns the hole transport layer (p-type semiconductor) in photovoltaic cells that carries holes generated by light to the electrode. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-carrier-doping-p-type-semiconductors-photovoltaic.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 19 Sep 2022 10:40:15 EDT news582802796 So-called quantum dots are a new class of materials with many applications. Quantum dots are realized by tiny semiconductor crystals with dimensions in the nanometre range. The optical and electrical properties can be controlled through the size of these crystals. As QLEDs, they are already on the market in the latest generations of TV flat screens, where they ensure particularly brilliant and high-resolution color reproduction. However, quantum dots are not only used as dyes, they are also used in solar cells or as semiconductor devices, right up to computational building blocks, the qubits, of a quantum computer. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-quantum-dots.html Quantum Physics Thu, 03 Jun 2021 13:07:41 EDT news541944458 When it comes to microelectronics, there is one chemical element like no other: silicon, the workhorse of the transistor technology that drives our information society. The countless electronic devices we use in everyday life are a testament to how today very high volumes of silicon-based components can be produced at very low cost. It seems natural, then, to use silicon also in other areas where the properties of semiconductors—as silicon is one—are exploited technologically, and to explore ways to integrate different functionalities. Of particular interest in this context are diode lasers, such as those employed in barcode scanners or laser pointers, which are typically based on gallium arsenide (GaAs). Unfortunately though, the physical processes that create light in GaAs do not work so well in silicon. It therefore remains an outstanding, and long-standing, goal to find an alternative route to realizing a 'laser on silicon.' https://phys.org/news/2021-03-key-long-sought-goal-silicon-based-laser.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 08 Mar 2021 16:31:39 EST news534443486 Growth of high-quality substrates for microelectronic applications is one of the key elements helping drive society toward a more sustainable green economy. Today, silicon plays a central role within the semiconductor industry for microelectronic and nanoelectronic devices. https://phys.org/news/2020-04-wide-bandgap-semiconductor-devices-based.html Condensed Matter Tue, 28 Apr 2020 11:00:03 EDT news507282605 The process of crystallization, in which atoms or molecules line up in orderly arrays like soldiers in formation, is the basis for many of the materials that define modern life, including the silicon in microchips and solar cells. But while many useful applications for crystals involve their growth on solid surfaces (rather than in solution), there has been a dearth of good tools for studying this type of growth. https://phys.org/news/2020-04-technique-reveals-crystals-surfaces.html Analytical Chemistry Thu, 02 Apr 2020 09:12:03 EDT news505037520 Finding new semiconductor materials that emit light is essential for developing a wide range of electronic devices. But making artificial structures that emit light tailored to our specific needs is an even more attractive proposition. However, light emission in a semiconductor only occurs when certain conditions are met. Today, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, in collaboration with the University of Manchester, have discovered an entire class of two-dimensional materials that are the thickness of one or a few atoms. When combined together, these atomically thin crystals are capable of forming structures that emit customizable light in the desired color. This research, published in the journal Nature Materials, marks an important step towards the future industrialization of two-dimensional materials. https://phys.org/news/2020-02-custom-d-materials.html Nanophysics Tue, 18 Feb 2020 07:12:18 EST news501232335 University of California, Berkeley, scientists have created a blue light-emitting diode (LED) from a trendy new semiconductor material, halide perovskite, overcoming a major barrier to employing these cheap, easy-to-make materials in electronic devices. https://phys.org/news/2020-01-blue-emitting-diode-limitations-perovskite-semiconductors.html Materials Science Fri, 24 Jan 2020 14:00:04 EST news499069920 Many potential pharmaceuticals end up failing during clinical trials, but thanks to new research from the University of Illinois, biological molecules once considered for cancer treatment are now being repurposed as organic semiconductors for use in chemical sensors and transistors. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-repurpose-cancer-drug-printable-semiconductor.html Materials Science Wed, 02 Oct 2019 16:35:34 EDT news489252926 University of Illinois electrical engineers have cleared another hurdle in high-power semiconductor fabrication by adding the field's hottest material—beta-gallium oxide—to their arsenal. Beta-gallium oxide is readily available and promises to convert power faster and more efficiently than today's leading semiconductor materials—gallium nitride and silicon, the researchers said. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-semiconductors-gallium-oxide.html Nanomaterials Mon, 22 Jul 2019 12:38:57 EDT news483017919 With a simple twist of the fingers, one can create a beautiful spiral from a deck of cards. In the same way, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have created new inorganic crystals made of stacks of atomically thin sheets that unexpectedly spiral like a nanoscale card deck. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-crystal-scientists-spiraling-material.html Nanomaterials Thu, 20 Jun 2019 07:43:25 EDT news480235396 The next generation of flexible and transparent displays will require a high-performing and flexible polymeric material that has the optical and thermal properties of glass. The material must be transparent to visible light and have a low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). Unfortunately, such a polymeric material has not been available. A KAIST research team has succeeded in making a new polymeric material with an exceptionally low CTE value while retaining high transparency and excellent thermal and mechanical properties. The method developed for amorphous polymers with a controlled CTE can be applied to control the thermal expansion of organic materials as well. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-material-transparent-flexible.html Polymers Thu, 24 Jan 2019 09:36:03 EST news467544955 The next generation of energy-efficient power electronics, high-frequency communication systems, and solid-state lighting rely on materials known as wide bandgap semiconductors. Circuits based on these materials can operate at much higher power densities and with lower power losses than silicon-based circuits. These materials have enabled a revolution in LED lighting, which led to the 2014 Nobel Prize in physics. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-gallium-oxide-high-electron-mobility.html Condensed Matter Tue, 24 Apr 2018 11:00:03 EDT news443767201 Some problems are so challenging to solve that even the most advanced computers need weeks, not seconds, to process them. https://phys.org/news/2017-06-cues-human-brain.html Computer Sciences Fri, 09 Jun 2017 08:29:26 EDT news416215758 Nanocrystals have diverse applications spanning biomedical imaging, light-emitting devices, and consumer electronics. Their unique optical properties result from the type of crystal from which they are composed. However, a major bottleneck in the development of nanocrystals, to date, is the need for X-ray techniques to determine the crystal type. https://phys.org/news/2017-05-significant-examples-optical-crystallography-nanomaterials.html Nanophysics Thu, 18 May 2017 09:45:45 EDT news414319522 (Phys.org)—A team of researchers with members from institutions in Germany and Switzerland has shown that band structure engineering is possible when designing organic semiconductors. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes a technique that involves long-range Coulomb interactions that are loosely bound by van der Walls forces. Nobuo Ueno with Chiba University, in Japan offers a deeper look at the work done by the team in a Perspective commentary in the same journal issue. https://phys.org/news/2016-06-band-semiconductors.html Materials Science Fri, 17 Jun 2016 08:30:02 EDT news385366405 A new semiconductor compound is bringing fresh momentum to the field of spintronics, an emerging breed of computing device that may lead to smaller, faster, less power-hungry electronics. https://phys.org/news/2015-02-silicon-semiconductor-spintronics-reality.html General Physics Thu, 19 Feb 2015 08:51:09 EST news343558263 In the cover feature article of the journal, Science, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign describe a unique process for geometrically transforming two dimensional (2D) micro/nanostructures into extended 3D layouts by exploiting mechanics principles similar to those found in children's 'pop-up' books. https://phys.org/news/2015-01-d-pop-up-silicon-planar-materials.html Condensed Matter Thu, 08 Jan 2015 14:00:03 EST news339947548 A team of researchers led by North Carolina State University has found that stacking materials that are only one atom thick can create semiconductor junctions that transfer charge efficiently, regardless of whether the crystalline structure of the materials is mismatched - lowering the manufacturing cost for a wide variety of semiconductor devices such as solar cells, lasers and LEDs. https://phys.org/news/2014-12-stacking-two-dimensional-materials-semiconductor-devices.html Nanophysics Thu, 11 Dec 2014 12:41:27 EST news337524072