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1 year ago
Findings suggest nanowires ideal for electronics manufacturing
Thursday, 13 November 2008
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http://www.nerve.in/news:253500181167
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It was the first time researchers had made such precise measurements of the nucleation process in nanowires, he said.
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By
Purdue University
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have discovered that tiny structures called silicon nanowires might be ideal for manufacturing in future computers and consumer electronics because they form the same way every time.
The researchers use an instrument called a transmission electron microscope to watch how nanowires made of silicon nucleate, or begin to form, before growing into wires, said Eric Stach, an assistant professor of materials engineering at Purdue University.
The work is based at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., and at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center in the university's Discovery Park.
The nucleation process can be likened to the beginning of ice forming in a pool of water placed in a freezer. The liquid undergoes a phase transition, changing from the liquid to the solid phase.
What's unusual about this work is that we are looking at these things on an extremely small scale, Stach said. The three major findings are that you can see that the nucleation process on this small scale is highly repeatable, that you can measure and predict when it's going to occur, and that those two facts together give you a sense that you could confidently design systems to manufacture these nanowires for electronics.
It was the first time researchers had made such precise measurements of the nucleation process in nanowires, he said.
Findings will be detailed in a research paper appearing Friday (Nov. 14) in the journal
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