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UW researchers reveal insights on
silicon semiconductors
Madison, WI, June 23: "Smaller. Faster. Wildly complex." This could easily be
the motto for semiconductors-the materials that, among lots of other advances in
electronics, allow cell phones to continuously shrink in size while increasing
the number of their mind-boggling functions.
While exceptionally tiny, semiconductors possess the ability to enable a
multitude of complex functions, making them an invaluable ingredient in
electronics technology. But, while the computer age is in full bloom, knowledge
of semiconductor nanostructures is still relatively young; and research seeking
to answer essential and sometimes-basic materials questions is occurring at
breakneck speed.
As part of this race to understand semiconductors better, a team of researchers
from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison has revealed valuable information about silicon and it's
surface structure. In particular, the researchers, who did much of their work at
the Synchrotron Radiation
Center, examined the inimitable 7 x 7 surface structure of Si(111), the most
stable surface of silicon.
"Surfaces and interfaces dominate in today's silicon devices, since the surface
to volume ratio goes up in small structures. These two-dimensional structures
are difficult to study, and the SRC work explores an aspect that has remained
unexplored on semiconductors so far," says physicist Ingo Barke, who, along with
UW-Madison collaborators, published results in a June 2006 issue of Physical
Review Letters.
"Our results reveal a very unusual surface band structure, which can be best
explained by a mechanism called 'electron-phonon interaction,'" Barke continues.
"Phonons are vibrations of the atoms, which are surrounded by electrons. By
shaking the surface atoms the orbiting electrons 'feel' these vibrations and
change their movement in a characteristic way. Our work connects two intensively
studied fields: electron-phonon interaction which causes conventional
superconductivity, and semiconductor surfaces which are of great importance for
electronic devices and semiconductor technology."
While similar research has been done on metal surfaces, the current study is the
first example of such examination on a semiconductor surface. History has shown
that these interesting jumps in basic knowledge about materials such as
semiconductors can have significant practical impacts down the road-and this is
particularly true in the case of silicon, which itself has become so
inextricably important in modern society that it is credited with its own
"silicon age."
"Electron-phonon interaction itself is of great scientific and practical
interest because it is the key mechanism for conventional superconductivity,"
Barke notes, adding that the ultimate goal lies in the possibility of tailoring
materials for a new generation of "designer superconductors."
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