Prof. Moon-ho Jo’s team developed a novel transistor device partially metallic and partially semiconducting on the same atomic layer.

Existing silicon semiconductors exhibit potential barriers at joints because they are physical connections between metals and semiconductors. The contact resistant that results from the potential barrier hinders the flow of currents, negatively affecting semiconductor device performance. This has slowed down the development of ultra-performance micro gadgets.

The new electronic device developed by the team is based on a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD), which is similar in shape and thickness to graphene and is excellent in terms of transparency and flexibility. The novel material was developed by chemical vapor deposition. The TMD was vaporized at a high temperature and sprayed with a uniform thickness onto a substrate for synthesis.

The material is characterized by being semiconducting at a low temperature and metallic at a high temperature. In addition, it can allow thin large-area semiconductors to be produced in quantity and with uniformity. This means the material can help mobile phones, computers and so on maintain their performance even after size reduction.

Further details of the research are available in the September 18 edition of the Nature Nanotechnology journal.
 

Article: Both Metallic and Semiconducting
Source Credit: © 2013 BusinessKorea Co., Ltd.
Cho Jin-young