The growing need for high-performance, energy-efficient chips, largely driven by artificial intelligence and large language models, is pushing current semiconductor technology to its limits.
As transistors—the tiny switches that power chips—become smaller, close to atomic sizes, engineers are facing significant challenges. Issues like heat buildup, manufacturing limitations, and quantum effects can disrupt chip performance.
In response to these challenges, researchers are looking into new materials, particularly 2D semiconductors, which are incredibly thin (only a few atoms thick) and may offer faster speeds while consuming less power.
These 2D materials can be tweaked to carry electrical signals in different ways by adding small amounts of other elements, resulting in two key types: n-type and p-type materials. Modern chips rely on both types working together to form transistors.
While reliable n-type materials are already available, creating dependable p-type materials continues to be a challenge, which slows down further advancements in chip technology.
To address this problem, a team led by Zhu Mengjian from the National University of Defence Technology, alongside Ren Wencai and Xu Chuan from the Institute of Metal Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a new manufacturing approach.
Their team modified an existing technique by adding a gold and tungsten base layer. This adjustment allows for the growth of larger sheets of 2D material with controllable electrical properties.
In a study published on March 26 in the journal National Science Review, the researchers reported that this method increased production speed significantly—from extremely slow rates to about 20 micrometers per minute, roughly 1,000 times faster than previous methods.
The new material also showed impressive electrical performance, durability, and heat resistance, all essential for modern chip applications.
The researchers believe this breakthrough could speed up the push to incorporate 2D semiconductor materials into large-scale production, especially in widely used chip designs throughout the electronics industry.
