Semiconductor chips are electronic devices that store and process information. Today they can contain billions of microscopic switches on a chip smaller than a fingernail.
What if it were a lot easier to install solar power?
zstock/Shutterstock.com
Silicon is cheap and a good semiconductor, but it’s bulky and rigid. Using organic polymers as semiconductors could yield solar panels with the physical characteristics of plastics.
Could this monitor and window be combined with a solar panel?
patat/Shutterstock.com
The fossil fuel era won’t last forever. And a new set of countries will find their reserves of lithium, copper and rare earth metals are in high demand.
A basic design of a light-based chip.
Arnab Hazari
As electronic transistors get tinier, they approach a point at which they won’t be able to get smaller. How can we keep shrinking our devices, and making them more powerful at the same time? Light.
A molecular beam epitaxy machine used to create semiconductor samples.
John C. Bean (University of Virginia) and Tom Vandervelde (Tufts University)
Silicon isn’t the perfect semiconductor, it’s just the one we’re using. How can we ensure our electronics keep get getting faster in the face of silicon’s natural physical limits?
Quantum computers that can solve complex problems in finance, health, security and defence are a step closer after a team of Australian and British researchers created the first working quantum bit based…