Digitization and automation are advancing – sometimes more, sometimes less rapidly – but could falter without modern microchips in sufficient quantities. In order to develop ever faster, more energy-efficient and thus better chips that meet the ever-increasing demands of modern technologies, new materials beyond classic silicon are needed. We take a look with you at exciting new materials, their potential applications, and their advantages and disadvantages.
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They block leakage currents, i.e. unwanted power losses, provide energy-efficient computing power or pave the way for renewable energy from wind, water and solar power plants to enter the grids – the semiconductors of the present and future. New materials are being used in them all the time. Ever new, exciting properties are unfolding in new material combinations.
“Only about 25 years ago, the number of materials that were important for microelectronics was very manageable,” says nanoelectronics professor Thomas Mikolajick of TU Dresden, outlining this trend. “Since then, that number has really exploded, and semiconductor technology has expanded to include a large part of the periodic table.” Among them are some elements and compounds on which the industry has particularly high hopes for the near future – here’s a little “tour d’horizon”:
They are considered to be the hope for the three-dimensional logic and memory circuits of the next generation but one. As transparent interconnect materials, they have already been in use for years in solar cell and display manufacturing, for example. However, these metal oxides are also suitable for the 3D CMOS concept. According to expert estimates, this will become the focus of the semiconductor industry in about five to ten years, when it is about to move into the sub-nanometer world. Then ITO and IGZO could provide the key to three-dimensional stacked transistor levels. 3D architectures already exist for individual transistors such as the FinFET or for memory in USB sticks, but not for complex logic circuits. The technologies are being researched primarily by Imec in Belgium, but also by TU Dresden.
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They are expected to enable cheaper and more powerful memory cells.
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They are suitable for memristors. These are electronics that “remember” previous states, so in a sense “accumulate experience.” Panasonic and TSMC already produce such memories.
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… in its orthorombic version (crystal with three perpendicular axes) is a ferroelectric material and a hope for fast memory and AI hardware. The breakthrough was achieved mainly in Dresden: once at Qimonda and then at the TU’s NaMLab, Fraunhofer CNT and the “NaMLab” spin-off “FMC”.
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compared to MRAM.
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Both are semiconductors with a high band gap between the outermost electron bands. As a result, they can tolerate higher voltages and stronger currents than ordinary silicon devices and resist current less. In Saxony, the X-FAB -Werk in Dresden, among others, manufactures gallium nitride semiconductors.
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so far.
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Gallium arsenide has been used for years in high-frequency
quence electronics. Its use as a material for power electronics is still quite new. It is conceivable that it could be used to cover a niche between silicon in the lower power spectrum and silicon carbide or gallium nitride on the other side. Saxony is considered an important location for gallium arsenide semiconductor technology. Among the pioneers here are Freiberger Compound Materials (FCM) and “3-5 Power Electronics” from Dresden.
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Gallium oxide could enable the next generation of power electronics after silicon carbide and gallium nitride. However, this technology is still in the research phase.
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High-tech companies and research institutions in Saxony are working on several of these promising material developments. One particular focus is on power electronics, among other areas. Lighthouses in this segment include, for example, a gallium nitride research center in Freiberg and Freiberger Compound Materials (FMC), as well as TU Dresden’s NaMLab, Infineon’s power electronics production, X-FAB’s gallium nitride line in Dresden and others.
This article first appeared as part of our NEXT magazine, “In Focus: Microelectronics.”
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