14 DAY TRIAL // French researchers with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) propose in a new article that using molybdenite instead of silicon or graphene could allow for the creation of smaller, cheaper, more energy-efficient electronic chips, and other electronic devices.
The proposal is detailed online, in the January 30 issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology. The work was authored by experts at the EPFL Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES).
In the paper they published, the investigators showcased some of the distinct advantages that molybdenite has over silicon and graphene, especially in applications related to the field of electronics.
Like graphene, molybdenite (MoS2) has only two dimensions. According to LANES scientists, it has a tremendous potential as a semiconductor material, and it also has the added advantage of being widely available in nature, as a mineral.
It is already commonly used in various industries, such as for example for strengthening steel alloys, or for enhancing the characteristics of lubricants. Despite its wide use, no one has ever studied its potential in the electronics industry thus far.
“It’s a two-dimensional material, very thin and easy to use in nanotechnology. It has real potential in the fabrication of very small transistors, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar cells,” explains EPFL professor Andras Kis, who was a member of the research team.
He carried out this investigation by analyzing the traits of silicon and graphene against one another. The former material is the most commonly used in the electronics industry today, whereas the latter is regarded as its successor, and the next big thing in the industry.
But silicon was found to be too voluminous, a lot more so than molybdenite, which is 2D. “In a 0.65-nanometer-thick sheet of MoS2, the electrons can move around as easily as in a 2-nanometer-thick sheet of silicon,” Kis says.
“But it’s not currently possible to fabricate a sheet of silicon as thin as a monolayer sheet of MoS2,” he goes on to say. When compared to traditional silicon transistors, new ones based on the 2D material could consume up to 100,000 times less energy while on standby.
When compared to graphene, molybdenite is better because it has naturally-occurring band gaps, which are electron-free space in a material. The carbon compound does not have them, and reproducing them artificially is very complex and energy-intensive, Science Blog reports.