News tagged with silicon atom

Graphene on boron nitride work may lead to breakthrough in microchip technology

(Phys.org) -- Graphene is the wonder material that could solve the problem of making ever faster computers and smaller mobile devices when current silicon microchip technology hits an inevitable wall. Graphene, ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 28, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Multiple groups claim to create first atom-thick silicon sheets

(PhysOrg.com) -- Since its discovery in 2004, graphene -- sheets of carbon an atom thick -- has sparked a flurry of research into the nanomaterial's potential applications for blazing fast, tiny electronics. ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Mar 30, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (16) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Study raises questions on what causes silicon solar cell degradation

(PhysOrg.com) -- After several hours of exposure to sunlight, silicon solar cells experience light-induced degradation, which can decrease their efficiency by up to 10%. In a new study, scientists have attempted ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Jun 03, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast feature

Brittle silicon shows exceptional plasticity on the nanoscale

(PhysOrg.com) -- On the macroscale, silicon is a brittle material that cannot be easily molded into a desired shape. But scientists have found that a piece of silicon just 3 nm long can be stretched to more than 20 times ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Aug 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast feature

Electronic congestion in the microchips of the future

(Phys.org) -- Electrons within some materials can stick together like cars on a traffic jam. Swiss researchers studying promising materials for the future of electronics have been able to highlight this phenomenon

Physics / Condensed Matter

created May 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Single-atom transistor is 'perfect'

In a remarkable feat of micro-engineering, UNSW physicists have created a working transistor consisting of a single atom placed precisely in a silicon crystal.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 19, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (44) | comments 24 | with audio podcast

Narrowest conducting wires in silicon ever made show the same current capability as copper

The narrowest conducting wires in silicon ever made – just four atoms wide and one atom tall – have been shown to have the same electrical current carrying capability of copper, according to a new ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (13) | comments 13 | with audio podcast

Microscopy reveals 'atomic antenna' behavior in graphene

Atomic-level defects in graphene could be a path forward to smaller and faster electronic devices, according to a study led by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jan 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

A new class of electron interactions in quantum systems

Physicists at the University of New South Wales have observed a new kind of interaction that can arise between electrons in a single-atom silicon transistor.

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (15) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Tunable' metal nanostructures for fuel cells, batteries and solar energy

(PhysOrg.com) -- For catalysts in fuel cells and electrodes in batteries, engineers would like to manufacture metal films that are porous, to make more surface area available for chemical reactions, and highly ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Apr 03, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Atom Pinhole Camera Acts as a Shrinking Copy Machine

(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1983, Richard Feynman proposed the idea of a machine that could create smaller scale replicas of itself. Today, such a system is still a challenge, but a machine that can produce nanometer-sized ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Jun 01, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (20) | comments 8 feature

'Nanowiggles:' Scientists discover graphene nanomaterials with tunable functionality in electronics

Electronics are getting smaller and smaller, flirting with new devices at the atomic scale. However, many scientists predict that the shrinking of our technology is reaching an end. Without an alternative ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Controlling silicon evaporation allows scientists to boost graphene quality

Scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology have for the first time provided details of their "confinement controlled sublimation" technique for growing high-quality layers of epitaxial graphene on ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Boron nitride is a promising path to practical graphene devices

(PhysOrg.com) -- Graphene is a two-dimensional honeycomb of carbon, just one atom thick, whose intriguing electronic properties include very high electron mobility and very low resistivity. Graphene is so ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 30, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (8) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Defect in graphene may present bouquet of possibilities

(PhysOrg.com) -- A class of decorative, flower-like defects in the nanomaterial graphene could have potentially important effects on the material's already unique electrical and mechanical properties, according ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created May 25, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast