A team of researchers from the Cornell University have said that they have discovered a breakthrough transistor technology. The findings of the study, which were published in the Nature journal, state that the team has found an exceptionally efficient novel method of producing transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD). Film made from this experimental material is known to be strikingly thin but still exceedingly conductive. This particular attribute makes the film a perfect fit in applications ranging from wearable gadgets to solar cells to flexible electronics. However, until now, films such as these were not only expensive, but were also difficult to efficiently produce in appreciable quantities.
Saien Xie, one of the lead authors of the paper, said that the team’s work now makes a case for the use of TMDs on a scale that will be technologically relevant. This, in turn, will ease the process of producing smaller devices. The interest that TMD has received is comparable to that for graphene, which could help take Moore's Law to a higher level by offering a substrate that’s both compact and stable. Armed with a foundation like this, scientists can pack a much higher number of circuits onto the substrate.
Interestingly, TMD has a thickness of just three atoms. But that also makes the TMD production process vulnerable to a series of breakages and failures. This issue is intelligently addressed by the new method introduced by Cornell scientists – it entails mixing diethylsulfide with a metal hexacarbonyl compound, on a silicon wafer. The wafer is then baked for 26 hours in the presence of hydrogen gas.
The team produced a batch of 200 wafers using this process specifically for the purpose of this study. Of these, only two failed. This marks an impressive 99% success rate. Armed with these promising results, the team now wants to streamline and enhance the manufacturing process to make it more consistent. While it might be a few years more before the technology becomes commercially available (and viable), the ball for a new era of paper-thin electronics has been set rolling.