Researchers led by the University of Minnesota have engineered a transformative material that promises to enhance the speed, efficiency and durability of future high-power electronics. This innovation could revolutionize devices ranging from smartphones to quantum computers.
A team of researchers led by the University of Minnesota has pioneered a breakthrough material that promises to revolutionize high-power electronics by making them faster, transparent and more efficient. This novel material allows electrons to move faster, retaining transparency to visible and ultraviolet light, a feat previously unattained.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, this development is a significant leap in semiconductor design. Semiconductors are crucial to a global industry valued in the trillions of dollars, pivotal to the functioning of nearly all modern electronics, from smartphones to life-saving medical devices.
The core of this advancement lies in improving “ultra-wide band gap” materials — an essential component for high-performance electronics that functions efficiently under extreme conditions. These materials enable devices to operate at elevated temperatures, enhancing their durability and robustness.
By increasing the “band gap,” the researchers have improved both transparency and conductivity, setting the stage for advancements in computers, smartphones and potentially even quantum computing. This material, a transparent conducting oxide, is designed with a thin-layered structure that maintains transparency without compromising on conductivity.
“This breakthrough is a game-changer for transparent conducting materials, enabling us to overcome limitations that have held back deep ultra-violet device performance for years,” Bharat Jalan, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota, said in a news release.
The study’s first co-authors Fengdeng Liu and Zhifei Yang — doctoral students in chemical engineering and materials science who work in Jalan’s lab — undertook extensive testing to confirm the material’s exceptional properties. Detailed electron microscopy revealed a defect-free, highly effective oxide-based perovskite structure.
“Through detailed electron microscopy, we saw this material was clean with no obvious defects, revealing just how powerful oxide-based perovskites can be as semiconductors if defects are controlled,” added senior author Andre Mkhoyan, a professor in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.
This research lays the groundwork for the development of high-power and optoelectronic devices capable of operating in the most demanding environments.
The research team also included Silu Guo, a doctoral candidate in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and David Abramovitch and Marco Bernardi from the California Institute of Technology’s Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science.