A wafer developed with the new technology. /China Media Group
A team of Chinese scientists has made a significant stride in chip technology by developing dielectric wafers made of artificial sapphire. Their groundbreaking research, published in Nature on Wednesday, lays a crucial foundation for the development of more power-efficient chips.
As electronic devices continue to shrink and demand higher performance, the miniaturization of transistors has presented challenges, especially in the realm of dielectric materials.
These materials typically act as insulators in chips, but their effectiveness diminishes at the nanoscale – that's one of the reasons our smartphones tend to heat up and have short battery life.
To address this issue, the researchers at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, created artificial sapphire dielectric wafers using a novel intercalation oxidation process.
"The aluminum oxide we created is essentially artificial sapphire, identical to natural sapphire in terms of crystal structure, dielectric properties and insulation characteristics," said Tian Zi'ao, a researcher involved in the project.
Tian Zi'ao (L) and Di Zengfeng (R), both researchers at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, check up on scientific devices. /China Media Group
"By using intercalation oxidation technology on single-crystal aluminum, we were able to produce this single-crystal aluminum oxide dielectric material," explained researcher Di Zengfeng. "Unlike traditional amorphous dielectric materials, our crystalline sapphire can achieve exceptionally low leakage at just one-nanometer level."
This breakthrough can help us create power-efficient devices with extended battery life. Chips created with this new technology can be crucial for advancing artificial intelligence and Internet of Things applications.