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Wednesday, 25th November 2009 (4532 views)

Researchers from IBM, Purdue University in Indiana and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have used gold to create semiconducting nanowires that could pave the way for a new generation of transistors and more powerful computer chips.

The Insciences Organisation said electronic devices often use heterostructures - layers of materials sharply defined at the atomic level - to improve their efficiency.

Until now, however, the transition between layers on nanowires had been too gradual for them to perform as transistors.

The IBM, Purdue and UCLA team used gold to help tackle this problem. First, they heated particles of gold and aluminium in a vacuum. They then introduced silicon gas, which "supersaturated" the alloy and formed wires.

Each of these wires was topped with gold and aluminium, then cooled so the metals solidified. Germanium was deposited onto the nanowires to create a heterostructure with the silicon.

The scientists were also able to create germanium "gates" in the transistors, which would allow devices to be turned on and off.

In other news, researchers at Purdue University recently developed gold nanostars that can be controlled by a rotating magnetic field to scatter light inside the body, which could be used to enhance the imaging of tumours.

 

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