Electronics to Be Revolutionized With Liquid Metal Nano Printing

A new technology that makes use of liquid metals for creation of integration circuit that are only a few atoms thick can result in next biggest innovation for electronics. The process brings up a complete way for generation of large sized wafers with approx. size of 1.5 nanometers in terms of depth. Several other technicians tried it and could not prove to be reliable with respect to quality and difficulty in scaling up and ability to work at higher temperatures like 550 degrees and above that. A well-reputed professor Kourosh Kalantarzadeh from RMIT University of Melbourne’s School of Engineering led this project along with a few teammates from RMIT along with some researchers from North Carolina State University, Monash University, CSIRO, as well as the University of California.

Kourosh adds, “That is why this new 2D printing technique is so important—creating many layers of incredibly thin electronic chips on the same surface dramatically increases processing power and reduces costs. It will allow for the next revolution in electronics.” Another researchers from RMIT and CSIRO, adds that creation of electronic wafers that are just a few atoms thick has the ability to overcome the restrictions of present day chip production method. It can also be used in production of materials that were highly bendable and paved a way for flexible electronics.

Benjamin further adds, “However, none of the current technologies are able to create homogenous surfaces of atomically thin semiconductors on large surface areas that are useful for the industrial scale fabrication of chips. Our solution is to use the metals gallium and indium, which have a low melting point. These metals produce an atomically thin layer of oxide on their surface that naturally protects them. It is this thin oxide which we use in our fabrication method. By rolling the liquid metal, the oxide layer can be transferred onto an electronic wafer, which is then sulphurised. The surface of the wafer can be pre-treated to form individual transistors. We have used this novel method to create transistors and photo-detectors of very high gain and very high fabrication reliability in large scale”