The United States uses zinc oxide and cobalt mixture to develop new semiconductor materials

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The United States uses zinc oxide and cobalt mixture to develop new semiconductor materials [Copy link]

The United States uses zinc oxide and cobalt mixture to develop new semiconductor materials

Cobalt Green will make your computer ready to use right out of the box

Reporter Mao Li

Washington, August 3 (Xinhua) -- Now, people cannot start working immediately after turning on the computer power switch, but need to wait for a while for the computer to run the operating system, anti-virus software, firewall and other programs stored on the hard disk. However, perhaps in the near future, people can start working by pressing the power switch button. 　　In fact, if people have the ability to manipulate the magnetism of electrons and control the flow of electron charges, then it is expected that an electronic device can be developed to realize computers that can be used immediately after turning on the computer. This is the basis of the emerging "spin electronics". In the past, the biggest obstacle to the development of such devices was the lack of non-volatile magnetic semiconductor materials. The materials that people found that could meet the requirements must work properly at minus 200 degrees Celsius. 　　Researchers at the University of Washington have found that a mixture of zinc oxide and cobalt can manipulate the magnetism and electrical properties of electrons under the right conditions. Daniel Gamelin, an associate professor of chemistry at the university, said: "The materials we tested showed that they are magnetic at room temperature." The mixture of zinc oxide and cobalt is called cobalt green, and in the 19th century, Swedish chemist Sven Ryman used it as a pigment in his artwork. 　　Zinc oxide is a semiconductor with a relatively simple chemical structure and is also an important component of cobalt green. In order to test the material properties of cobalt green, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington State replaced a small number of zinc ions in zinc oxide with magnetic cobalt ions to obtain cobalt green materials. Later, in the laboratory of the University of Washington, Gamelin and his team "exposed" cobalt green to zinc metal vapor, which not only added more electrons to cobalt green, but also neatly arranged the cobalt ions in zinc oxide, making the cobalt green material as a whole magnetic. 　　The researchers found that after the zinc metal vapor "exposure" process, cobalt green still maintained strong magnetism at room temperature; when it was heated in the air, the extra electrons obtained by cobalt green during the "exposure" process disappeared without a trace, and the magnetism of cobalt green also disappeared. The researchers believe that this shows that the extra electrons and magnetism have interdependent properties. Gamelin said that their next step is to combine cobalt green materials with silicon semiconductors. 　　The development of cobalt green materials is still in the early stages, but Gamelin believes that their materials will eventually have a profound impact on computers and digital devices, allowing computers to start working quickly while saving energy.

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