Researchers Develop New Material For Computer Chip Parts

Israeli researchers at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have displayed the ability to control a material they say could potentially be an alternative to silicon in microelectronics.

The researchers, from the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technion were able to control the conductivity of an oxide material by stretching it at the atomic level. This, they say, is a key step towards the efficient production of the switches that are the basic building blocks of integrated circuits, more commonly known as computer chips. 

Computer chips, or just chips, are responsible for processing, storing, and transferring massive amounts of data, as well as performing a vast number of tasks such as vaccine development, spacecraft design, and the creation of artificial intelligence systems.  

The development could be the solution to scientists’ ongoing struggle to keep reducing the size of transistors – the miniature switches that control the flow of electric currents within a chip, just as a tap controls the flow of water.

Improving the performance of these transistors, which are today made from silicon, depends on continuously shrinking them. 

“As a result of the continuous miniaturization, modern transistors are only a few dozen atoms across,” said Prof. Lior Kornblum of the Technion. 

“Because they are already so small, continuing miniaturizing without compromising their performance is becoming increasingly challenging.” 

The research group, led by Kornblum, was studying various oxide materials when they found one that can switch back and forth between being an electrical conductor and an insulator. 

This property, the researchers believe, could make more efficient transistors. 

They also found that they can manipulate the material’s electric properties by controlling the distance between its atoms. 

“It is a great privilege to develop these capabilities here in Israel, to work with brilliant students and collaborate with the world’s leading scientists who contributed to this research. We are reaping the fruits of the excellent scientific infrastructure that the Technion is constantly developing and improving, and of our excellent students,” said Kornblum.