5X Faster than Silicon Semiconductors
A new semiconductor which consumes a fifth of power but five times faster than conventional semiconductors was developed entirely with domestic technology.
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on January 4 that the research team jointly led by Professor Choi Yang-kyu at the KAIST and Professor Choi Sung-jin at Kookmin University developed the new semiconductor using carbon nanotubes (CNTs).
The joint research team installed CNTs using the “three-dimensional pin gate structure” that covers all sides of the current path with gate electrodes. Under the 3-D pin structure, 600 CNTs can be attached to one micrometer. So, it can overcome existing limits of technology to create semiconductors that are refined in high purity and high density. Lee Dong-il, a researcher at the KAIST and the lead author of the study, said, “We hope the silicon-based semiconductors can replace with the new semiconductor in 10 years.” The findings were published on December 27 last year in the ACS Nano, an international academic journal.
Meanwhile, CNTs are hexagonal rings of six carbon atoms. As CNTs have a high level of electric and thermal conductivity as copper and it is 100 times strong than steel, they have emerged as a next-generation electronic device material.