We can’t cram any more processing power into silicon-based computer chips.
But a paper published in Nature overnight reveals how we can make electronic devices 10 times smaller, and use molecules to build electronic circuits instead.
We’re reaching the limits of what we can do with conventional silicon semiconductors. In order for electronic components to continue getting smaller we need a new approach.
Dr Sourabh Khandelwal from the Department of Engineering has developed a model for a GaN (gallium nitride) transistor that has been adopted as an international standard.
Silicon transistors are a critical part of modern electronics. There’s a few million of them in your smartphone alone, but owing to their fundamental material limitations they’re extremely inefficient for emerging applications.
GaN transistors are emerging as a go-to technology for use in future applications like 5G communications, sensing electronics in autonomous cars, and compact converters for renewable energy. They’re more efficient than silicon, meaning they’ll use less power and can also be made smaller than silicon transistors. Continue reading Transistor model sets the standard→
Car manufacturers are queuing up to meet the Melbourne makers of the world’s smallest and cheapest automotive radar system.
The CMOS chip at the heart of ROACH. Credit: Luan Ismahil, NICTA
The Radar on a Chip (ROACH) detects and tracks objects around the car. It’s part of an active safety system that can warn drivers about possible collisions and, if necessary, integrate with braking, steering, seatbelt and airbag systems to avoid, or minimise the consequences of, an accident.
Electrodes made of diamond are helping Melbourne researchers build a better bionic eye.
David Garrett’s Melbourne team is designing diamond electrodes to replace light-sensing parts of the retina. Credit: David J. Garrett
Some types of blindness are caused by diseases where the light-sensing part of the retina is damaged, but the nerves that communicate with the brain are still healthy—for example, retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.
Dr David Garrett and his colleagues at the Melbourne Materials Institute at the University of Melbourne are using diamond to build electrodes that can replace the light-sensing function of the retina: they deliver an electrical signal to the eye via a light-sensing camera.
Imagine a power station that’s literally sprayed onto your roof —and could match the colour of your tiles.
GERRY WILSON IS DEVELOPING SPRAY-ON SOLAR CELLS. CREDIT: ISTOCKPHOTO
Thin film solar cells are thinner, cheaper and more versatile than the traditional silicon solar panels. Spray-on solar is a next step in the evolution of on-site power generation.
“These cells can be made with semiconductor dye materials, so you can match them to any colour or pattern you like—they’ll just convert that part of the solar spectrum into electricity. In the future we could have billboards that act as solar panels,” says Dr Gerry Wilson of CSIRO’s flexible electronics team.
Imagine a mobile phone, gaming gadget or laptop with a battery that never needs replacing, or electric cars powered by batteries that are as fast to recharge as it is to refill your car with petrol.
Neeraj Sharma prepares a sample battery in the glove box. Credit: ANSTO
Researchers at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) are unlocking the secret inner workings of lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries to develop better, safer portable power. Continue reading Tracking lithium for better batteries→
Keeping electronics cool in high power applications such as telecommunications and building electronics on the nanoscale are two areas where there is an alternative to traditional silicon—electronics using diamond. Continue reading Diamonds for extreme electronics→
Australian engineers and physicists have developed a ‘single electron reader’, one of the key building blocks needed to make a quantum computer.
Andrew Dzurak (left), Andrea Morello and their colleagues have read the spin of a single electron. Credit: UNSWQuantum computers will use the spin, or magnetic orientation, of individual electrons for their calculations. And, because of the quantum nature of electrons, quantum computers could be exponentially faster at certain tasks than traditional computers.
In order to employ electron spin, a quantum computer needs both a way of changing the spin state (writing information) and of measuring that change (reading information). Together these two form a quantum bit or qubit – the equivalent of the bit in a conventional computer. Continue reading Computing with a single electron→
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