Semiconductors are physical systems whose electrical conductivity lies between that of conductors and insulators and is strongly tunable by temperature, impurity concentration, and external fields. Their behavior is governed by band structure, featuring a finite band gap between valence and conduction bands that enables controlled carrier generation and recombination. Charge transport arises from electrons and holes, with densities modulated via doping, optical excitation, or electrostatic gating. Semiconductor systems support phenomena such as drift, diffusion, and quantum confinement, and they serve as the foundational medium for devices like diodes, transistors, and optoelectronic components through engineered heterostructures, junctions, and nanostructures.
GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are promising for displays, sensing and optical communication, but improving efficiency remains challenging. Researchers have now shown that "cavity tuning," which ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 11, 2026
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Researchers from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Centre for Advanced Semiconductors and Integrated Circuits (CASIC) have achieved ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 8, 2026
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A spin qubit, in which quantum information is encoded in the spin state of an electron, is one of the most promising platforms for quantum computing. Spin qubits exhibit long coherence times and are compatible with advanced ...
Quantum Physics
Jun 6, 2026
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Waves of light and sound interact to drive electronic and structural changes in a perovskite crystal. At the atomic scale, nothing is ever truly still. Materials that appear perfectly rigid and motionless to the naked eye ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 5, 2026
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102
Researchers in Japan have created some of the world's smallest semiconducting nanotubes, structures 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. By growing molybdenum disulfide inside protective tubes of boron nitride, the researchers, ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 4, 2026
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UNSW Sydney engineers have riffed on the famous Schrödinger's cat analogy to demonstrate a more efficient way to eliminate errors in quantum computing.
Quantum Physics
Jun 3, 2026
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Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the nineties shooter game "Doom" and say they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing.
Biotechnology
May 31, 2026
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243
Topological phases are unusual states of matter that give rise to properties protected by a material's overall structure (i.e., "topology"), as opposed to microscopic details. These phases are of great interest for the development ...
Honeycombs are famous for their elegant design, but now they may have found a new application: quantum computing. To collect knowledge from subatomic particles, quantum computers require carefully designed materials capable ...
Condensed Matter
May 28, 2026
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Researchers have created a new theoretical framework that shows how memory-preserving "memtransistors" could overcome the intrinsic limits in efficiency faced by conventional semiconductor transistors, imposed by the laws ...
