Nanoscale Devices tagged posts

New, more Sustainable Method for Manufacturing Microchips and other Nanoscale Devices

A colorful sheet of fabricated semiconductors. A new water-based method for  manufacturing semiconductors could replace use of toxic chemicals and open the door for hybrid electronic-biological devices
“This opens up a huge opportunity in device fabrication,” said Fiorenzo Omenetto. “Not only can one deposit water-soluble materials and metals on silicon, but on all sorts of polymers.” Photo: Shutterstock

Putting 50 billion transistors into a microchip the size of a fingernail is a feat that requires manufacturing methods of nanometer level precision—layering of thin films, then etching, depositing, or using photolithography to create the patterns of semiconductor, insulator, metal, and other materials that make up the tiny working devices within the chip.

The process relies heavily on solvents that carry and deposit materials in each layer—solvents that can be difficult to handle and toxic to the environment.

Now researchers led by Fiorenzo Omenetto, Frank C...

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