The enhanced power of the new measuring technique to characterize materials at scales much smaller than any current technologies will accelerate the discovery and investigation of 2D, micro- and nanoscale materials. Being able to accurately measure semiconductor properties of materials in small volumes helps engineers determine the range of applications for which these materials may…

Tiny, easy-to-produce particles, called quantum dots, may soon take the place of more expensive single crystal semiconductors in advanced electronics found in solar panels, camera sensors and medical imaging tools. Although quantum dots have begun to break into the consumer market—in the form of quantum dot TVs—they have been hampered by long-standing uncertainties about their…

Scientists have found a new way to control light emitted by exotic crystal semiconductors, which could lead to more efficient solar cells and other advances in electronics, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Materials Today. Their discovery involves crystals called hybrid perovskites, which consist of interlocking organic and inorganic materials, and they have…

A new quantum sensor developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) has proven it can outperform existing technologies and promises significant advancements in long-range 3D imaging and monitoring the success of cancer treatments. The sensors are the first of their kind and are based on semiconductor nanowires that can…

Nanostructures based on carbon are promising materials for nanoelectronics. However, to be suitable, they would often need to be formed on non-metallic surfaces, which has been a challenge—up to now. Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universitäthave found a method of forming nanographenes on metal oxide surfaces. Their research, conducted within the framework of collaborative research centre 953—Synthetic Carbon…

Light particles normally do not “feel” each other because there is no interaction acting between them. Researchers at ETH have now succeeded in manipulating photons inside a semiconductor material in such a way as to make them repel each other nevertheless. Two light beams crossing each other do not deflect one another. That is because,…

Quantum computers promise to be a revolutionary technology because their elementary building blocks, qubits, can hold more information than the binary, 0-or-1 bits of classical computers. But to harness this capability, hardware must be developed that can access, measure and manipulate individual quantum states. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied…

By bombarding an ultrathin semiconductor sandwich with powerful laser pulses, physicists at the University of California, Riverside, have created the first “electron liquid” at room temperature. The achievement opens a pathway for development of the first practical and efficient devices to generate and detect light at terahertz wavelengths—between infrared light and microwaves. Such devices could…

LED lights and monitors, and quality solar panels were born of a revolution in semiconductors that efficiently convert energy to light or vice versa. Now, next-generation semiconducting materials are on the horizon, and in a new study, researchers have uncovered eccentric physics behind their potential to transform lighting technology and photovoltaics yet again. Comparing the…

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have discovered a simple new tweak that could double the efficiency of organic electronics. OLED-displays, plastic-based solar cells and bioelectronics are just some of the technologies that could benefit from their new discovery, which deals with “double-doped” polymers. ​The majority of our everyday electronics are based on…

The absorption of light in semiconductor crystals without inversion symmetry can generate electric currents. Researchers at the Max-Born-Institute have now generated directed currents at terahertz (THz) frequencies, much higher than the clock rates of current electronics. They show that electronic charge transfer between neighboring atoms in the crystal lattice represents the underlying mechanism. Solar cells…

Scientists have moved quantum optic networks a step closer to reality. The ability to precisely control the interactions of light and matter at the nanoscale could help such a network transmit larger amounts of data more quickly and securely than an electrical network. A team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne…

For the past 60 years, the electronics industry and the average consumer have benefited from the continuous miniaturization, increased storage capacity and decreased power consumption of electronic devices. However, this era of scaling that has benefited humanity is rapidly coming to end. To continue shrinking the size and power consumption of electronics, new materials and…

When it comes to designing and optimizing mechanical systems, scientists understand the physical laws surrounding them well enough to create computer models that can predict their properties and behavior. However, scientists who are working to design better electrochemical systems, such as batteries or supercapacitors, don’t yet have a comprehensive model of the driving forces that…

An international team of scientist of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), Leibniz University Hannover (Leibniz Universität Hannover) and the Ioffe Institute report a way to improve nanocomposite material, opening new opportunities in industry. The study, titled “The mechanism of charge carrier generation at the TiO2 — n-Si heterojunction activated by gold nanoparticles,”…

President Donald Trump recently announced that he would seek tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, following up on a 2016 campaign promise to use tariffs in order to cut U.S. trade deficits. The White House has stated that the tariffs, which will initially target over 800 kinds of products worth $34 billion in imports, are retaliation for what it…