| A household microwave oven modified by a Cornell Engineering professor is helping to cook up the next generation of cellphones, computers and other electronics after the invention was shown to overcome a major challenge faced by the semiconductor industry. | |
| The research is detailed in a paper in Applied Physics Letters (“Efficient and stable activation by microwave annealing of nanosheet silicon doped with phosphorus above its solubility limit”). The lead author is James Hwang, a research professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; other Cornell contributors are doctoral student Chandrasekhar Savant and former postdoctoral researcher Mohammed Javad Asadi. |
| Producing the materials that make up transistors and other microchip components is similar to baking in that material ingredients must be mixed together and then heated, among other steps, in order to produce a desired electrical current. For instance, phosphorus is added to silicon and then the mixture is annealed, or heated, to position the phosphorus atoms into the correct place so that they are active in current conduction. | |
| But as microchips continue to shrink, the silicon must be doped, or mixed, with higher concentrations of phosphorus to produce the desired current. Semiconductor manufacturers are now approaching a critical limit in which heating the highly doped materials using traditional methods no longer produces consistently functional semiconductors. | |
| “We need concentrations of phosphorus that are higher than its equilibrium solubility in silicon. That goes against nature,” Hwang said. “The silicon crystal expands, causing immense strain and making it potentially useless for electronics.” | |
| The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) had theorized that microwaves could be used to activate the excess dopants, but just like with household microwave ovens that sometimes heat food unevenly, previous microwave annealers produced “standing waves” that prevented consistent dopant activation. So TSMC partnered with Hwang, who modified a microwave oven to selectively control where the standing waves occur. Such precision allows for the proper activation of the dopants without excessive heating or damage of the silicon crystal. | |
| This discovery could be used to produce semiconductor materials and electronics appearing around the year 2025, said Hwang, who has filed two patents for the prototype microwave annealer with postdoctoral researcher Gianluca Fabi. | |
| “A few manufacturers are currently producing semiconductor materials that are 3 nanometers,” Hwang said. “This new microwave approach can potentially enable leading manufacturers such as TSMC and Samsung to scale down to just 2 nanometers.” | |
| The breakthrough could change the geometry of transistors used in microchips. For more than 20 years, transistors have been made to stand up like dorsal fins so that more can be packed on each microchip, but manufacturers have recently begun to experiment with a new architecture in which transistors are stacked horizontally as nanosheets that can further increase the density and control of transistors. The excessively doped materials enabled by microwave annealing would be key to the new architecture. |
News
Cutting Two Amino Acids Slowed Prostate Cancer in Mice
A newly identified link between amino acid metabolism and cholesterol production may help prostate tumors adapt to hormone therapy. Prostate cancer can find ways around treatments designed to deprive tumors of the hormones they [...]
Largest-Ever Physics Survey Raises New Doubts About Our Model of the Universe
Physicists around the world remain deeply divided on key mysteries of the universe, from dark matter to quantum gravity. The standard cosmological model failed to gain majority support, and no leading theory dominated the [...]
Scientists Just Overturned a 100-Year-Old Belief About Bacteria in the Lungs
New findings raise questions about the role of microbes living in the lungs. More than 35 trillion bacteria live throughout the human body, forming microbiomes in the gut, mouth, lungs, skin, and urogenital tract. [...]
GHCE Concept
From the preface of the book Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artificial Intelligence, Edited by Frank Boehm: Since the publication of my first book (Nanomedical Device and Systems [...]
Novartis, Ionis drug failure spurs questions
Pelacarsen didn’t protect heart health despite lowering levels of a protein particle, “Lp(a),” in a large clinical trial — a result with important implications for cardiovascular drug research. Dive Brief: An RNA drug from [...]
New injectable treatment helps the brain rebuild after stroke
Biomedical engineers at Duke University have created an injectable biomaterial that may help the brain recover from damage left behind by an ischemic stroke. In experiments with mice, the material transformed the cavity created [...]
Scientists Discover a Hidden “Immune Organ” Inside the Skull
Researchers discovered lymph node-like immune hubs inside skull bone marrow that appear to act as rapid-response centers for the brain. For decades, the brain was thought to operate largely apart from the immune system. [...]
Engineered tRNAs and lipid nanoparticles target nonsense mutation cystic fibrosis
Researchers have developed a potential new approach for treating a form of cystic fibrosis caused by so-called nonsense mutations, combining chemically modified transfer RNAs with lipid nanoparticles designed to deliver the therapy directly to [...]
New pancreatic cancer drug carries a $39,800 monthly list price
A groundbreaking treatment for one of the most common forms of pancreatic cancer has been approved in pill form by the FDA. Revolution Medicines’ oral tablet daraxonrasib, branded as Rasonque, reduced the risk of [...]
Researchers Have Discovered a New Way To Reduce Chronic Nerve Pain
A cancer-linked protein called BRAF may help drive chronic nerve pain, and existing cancer drugs targeting it reduced pain sensitivity in preclinical models. Chronic nerve pain can persist long after an injury and often [...]
Our books now available worldwide!
Online Sellers other than Amazon, Routledge, and IOPP Indigo Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artifcial Intelligence Global Health Care Equivalency In The Age Of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine And Artificial [...]
Quantum-Enabled Regenerative Health: Reimagining Wellness, Precision Health and Longevity Medicine
Introduction Healthcare is approaching a frontier where the quantum portfolio could influence not only how disease is diagnosed and treated, but how health itself is measured, modeled, predicted and preserved. Quantum computing, quantum simulation, [...]
FDA Clears First-of-Its-Kind Nonmedication Treatment for PTSD
The FDA has cleared a system that uses brain activity data to personalize magnetic stimulation for PTSD, adding a new nonmedication treatment option. Every day in the United States, approximately 17.5 veterans die by suicide, [...]
FDA approves breakthrough drug to treat advanced pancreatic cancer
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved on Wednesday a drug that could extend the survival of those with metastatic pancreatic cancer. The drug, called daraxonrasib, will be sold under the brand name Rasonque [...]
AI Decodes a Hidden DNA Signal Linked to Disease-Causing Mutations
Machine learning identifies the likely “initiator” and enables new predictions about DNA mutations that can cause disease. Every human cell depends on tens of thousands of genes being switched on at the right time [...]
Pope Leo Urges Global Response to Congo’s Deadliest Ebola Outbreak
Pope Leo called for international action to address the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The epidemic has claimed over 2,500 lives and is the nation's largest recorded outbreak. The Pope emphasized [...]
