A NEW two-dimensional material from RMIT University and CSIRO could enable next-generation high-speed electronics.
The 2D material is made up of layers of molybdenum oxides crystals, encouraging the free flow of electrons at ultra-high speeds, with minimal scattering.
The details are published in the January issue of Advanced Materials, in an article titled “Enhanced Charge Carrier Mobility in Two-Dimensional High Dielectric Molybdenum Oxide”.
There, the researchers explained that the new conductive nano-material was adapted from graphene, changing its physical properties to allow use for high-speed electronics. They used exfoliation to create layers of the material which are around 11nm thick. The material was manipulated to convert it into a semiconductor and nanoscale transistors were then created using molybdenum oxide.
By removing impediments to electron flow, the developers of the new material make it possible for extremely high speed and fluent electron flow. The material has electron mobility values of >1,100 cm2/Vs – exceeding the current industry standard for low dimensional silicon.
If electrons can pass through a structure quicker, then scientists and engineers can build devices that are smaller and transfer data at much higher speeds.
The researchers caution that more work needs to be done before the 2D nano-material can be used in actual devices, but the breakthrough lays the foundation for a new electronics revolution.
In the paper titled the researchers describe how they used a process known as “exfoliation” to create layers of the material ~11 nm thick.
The work, with RMIT doctoral researcher Sivacarendran Balendhran as the lead author, was supported by the CSIRO Sensors and Sensor Networks Transformational Capability Platform and the CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering Division.
It was also a result of collaboration between researchers from Monash University, University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), CSIRO, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and RMIT.