Scientific studies have shown that we rely on semiconductors, usually silicon, for most of our day-to-day use of technology. These materials are extremely useful, but they also have some limitations. One of the problems that plagues people is the speed of energy transfer, and this problem may have been solved now, because a special superatomic semiconductor has been created, making it the best semiconductor in terms of energy transfer to date.
Just like in semiconductors, electrons can jump from one free position to another, which is technically known as holes. Electrons can move alone or with holes. In the latter state, they constitute a quasiparticle called an exciton, which behaves like an actual particle but is really just a peculiar interaction. It's like the exciton is a waxed snowboard, and the cavity is like a skier, and they glide together to form an interesting symphony on the snow.
In semiconductors, it is not only excitons, but also the natural vibrations in materials can also be described in terms of quasiparticles, which are called phonons. When they interact with excitons, they scatter, releasing heat and reducing the maximum speed at which information and energy are transmitted through semiconductors. It's like on a street with traffic jams, once a car is scattered, the speed will slow down, and the transmission of information will be blocked.
However, a new material has now emerged, which is made of rhenium, selenium, and chlorine with the chemical formula Re6Se8Cl2. In this material, something strange happens between phonons and excitons. Instead of scattering, they merge into a new quasiparticle: phonon exciton polarons. This new quasiparticle allows information and energy to travel twice as fast as electrons in silicon. It's not just the speed of motion, it's also the speed of processing, and these quasiparticles are controlled by light, not electricity, so the processing speed has the potential to be millions of times faster than current semiconductors. And it doesn't need to be cooled to extremely low temperatures to produce these quantum effects.
"In terms of energy transfer, Re6Se8Cl2 is the best semiconductor we know of, at least for now," Milan Delors, a professor of chemistry at Columbia University, said in a statement.
After discovering this amazing and unexpected property of Re6Se8Cl2, the research team is now working to understand why this phonon exciton polaron is present in this material. Understanding this is critical to the search for better semiconductors.
Rhenium is one of the rarest elements on Earth, so the commercial applicability of this semiconductor is non-existent, unless we suddenly find a lot of rhenium somewhere. But this property is present in this material, suggesting that it may also be present elsewhere. In cheaper materials.
"This is the only material that has been seen in the transport of phonons that is continuously produced at room temperature. But now we can start to predict other materials that might have this behavior, which we just haven't considered before," Delors said. "There's a whole family of superatoms and other two-dimensional semiconductor materials out there, with properties that favor the formation of phononic polarons. ”
The study was published in the journal Science. ✨