Breakthrough ‘Interface Tuning’ Is Macro Step For Microelectronics

June 16, 2003 | Source: ScienceDaily

The ability to make atomic-level changes in the functional components of semiconductor switches, demonstrated by a team of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, North Carolina State University and University of Tennessee physicists, could lead to huge changes in the semiconductor industry. The results are reported in the June 13 issue of Science.

The experiments demonstrated that the Schottky barrier — the boundary at the edge of a substance where electrons are confined, long considered an inflexible limitation — can in fact be manipulated. The finding could open the way for smaller, faster and smarter computers.