Single-atom-thick sheets of silicon make for ultrafast transistors
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028614
MIT Technology Review : Silicene is a single-layer molecule made from silicon. Like its carbon-based cousin graphene, silicene has unusual properties that make it potentially very useful in electronics. Unlike graphene, silicene does not occur naturally and is much less chemically and structurally stable in a two-dimensional form. Now, Deji Akinwande of the University of Texas at Austin and his colleagues have developed a method of growing the material that helps strengthen the molecule. They used the silicene as the base for contacts for a transistor, and the setup was stable in a vacuum. Although far from being commercially practical, the demonstration represents a significant proof of concept for the development of silicene-based electronics.
