Challenging tradition, new "wet" semiconductor equipment "beats" crystal equipment

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Challenging tradition, new "wet" semiconductor equipment "beats" crystal equipment [Copy link]

By coating a liquid carrier onto a piece of glass, researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a semiconductor device that they claim outperforms traditional crystalline devices . The researchers note that this is the first time a so-called "wet" semiconductor device has beaten a crystalline device, and that the superior performance can be achieved through a low-cost pretreatment.

The specific property they measured is photodetection in the infrared portion of the spectrum . At room temperature, the photodetector the team used is about ten times more sensitive to infrared light than current sensors used in military night vision and bio-imaging.

The University of Toronto team heated nanoparticles of lead sulfide (PbS), a major component of olive oil, in a bottle filled with oleic acid. A drop of the solution was placed on a glass surface that mimicked a gold electrode, and the sample spun around, spreading the solution and creating a uniform, continuous semiconductor film. The sample was then rinsed with methanol for two hours to prepare a 0.8-micron-thick coating of the photosensitive particles.

"These are extremely sensitive detectors of light," said Ted Sargent, who led the research team and holds the title of Canada's Chief Scientist in Nanotechnology. "It's clear that this approach can achieve excellent performance at a low cost."

Gerasimos Konstantatos, a doctoral student at the university and leader of the research project, said: "This discovery tells us that simple, convenient and low-cost wet chemistry can produce devices with performance superior to traditional crystal devices."

Source: Electronic Engineering Times

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Good! Technology has no limits.