5 ms·

Better article: https://news.mit.edu/2021/2d-transistors-microchip-0513 https://news.mit.edu/2021/2d-transistors-microchip-0513

by danaos 5y ago

adrian_b 5y ago
Yes indeed, thanks for this link. Not only this other source is much more detailed, but it does not contain any word about a "1 nm" TSMC process, which seems to be a pure invention of whoever has written the news at TechPowerup. The discovery of an appropriate material (bismuth) for electrical contacts to MoS2, which is a semiconductor that can be made in monoatomic layers is indeed extremely newsworthy. There is no doubt that this discovery might enable much denser semiconductor devices in the future, but nobody could say today which would be the name of the TSMC manufacturing process when they would decide to switch from silicon to molybdenum disulfide and in which year would that happen. Certainly not in a year or two. Even a prediction of 5 years would be extremely optimistic for any mainstream components like processors. MoS2 might become usable earlier for some special devices, but there are a huge number of problems to solve before becoming usable for logic devices, e.g. the development of some logic gates appropriate for this material. Being able to make CMOS gates does not seem very likely, at least not any time soon.
- adrian_b 5y ago
  The abstract and figures of the published paper can be found by searching for: "Ultralow contact resistance between semimetal and monolayer semiconductors"
  - dylan604 5y ago
    That's exactly what I was about to say
  - baybal2 5y ago
    Current chips on latest nodes are hitting limits of copper interconnect. First, copper deposition gets more, and more defect prone at small feature size — "bad fill" Second, even if you get ultra tiny M0, then the contact is rather poor. At such small dimensions the barrier layer that protects silicon from copper might itself stop behaving like a metal, that's why new interconnects go away from copper for M0 to eliminate the barrier layer.
- 0-_-0 5y ago
  Yet another link to a summary: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tsmc-makes-1nm-breakthrough https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tsmc-makes-1nm-breakthroug...
whichquestion 5y ago
The element driving this innovation is Bismuth. Bismuth connects the monolayer material (molybdenum disulfide) with the metal electrode. Bismuth is only twice as abundant as gold and its largest producer by far is China. China also decided in 2020 that their Fanya Metal Exchange bismuth stocks would be used internally for manufacturing[1]. I wonder, if Bismuth is largely required for large scale production of chips in the future, if it will drive more mining for bismuth, as it typically is a byproduct of other metal extraction, particularly lead. If not, would we then see in an increase in the price of Bismuth? Or is the volume of bismuth required for these chips not enough to drive global price increases? [1] https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021.pdf https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021.pdf
rurban 5y ago
Only Su is named, so only he is supposed to get the noble? Sounds unrealistic

Better article: https://news.mit.edu/2021/2d-transistors-microchip-0513 https://news.mit.edu/2021/2d-transistors-microchip-0513

by danaos 5y ago

Better article: https://news.mit.edu/2021/2d-transistors-microchip-0513 https://news.mit.edu/2021/2d-transistors-microchip-0513

adrian_b 5y ago

Yes indeed, thanks for this link. Not only this other source is much more detailed, but it does not contain any word about a "1 nm" TSMC process, which seems to be a pure invention of whoever has written the news at TechPowerup. The discovery of an appropriate material (bismuth) for electrical contacts to MoS2, which is a semiconductor that can be made in monoatomic layers is indeed extremely newsworthy. There is no doubt that this discovery might enable much denser semiconductor devices in the future, but nobody could say today which would be the name of the TSMC manufacturing process when they would decide to switch from silicon to molybdenum disulfide and in which year would that happen. Certainly not in a year or two. Even a prediction of 5 years would be extremely optimistic for any mainstream components like processors. MoS2 might become usable earlier for some special devices, but there are a huge number of problems to solve before becoming usable for logic devices, e.g. the development of some logic gates appropriate for this material. Being able to make CMOS gates does not seem very likely, at least not any time soon.

adrian_b 5y ago
The abstract and figures of the published paper can be found by searching for: "Ultralow contact resistance between semimetal and monolayer semiconductors"
- dylan604 5y ago
  That's exactly what I was about to say
- baybal2 5y ago
  Current chips on latest nodes are hitting limits of copper interconnect. First, copper deposition gets more, and more defect prone at small feature size — "bad fill" Second, even if you get ultra tiny M0, then the contact is rather poor. At such small dimensions the barrier layer that protects silicon from copper might itself stop behaving like a metal, that's why new interconnects go away from copper for M0 to eliminate the barrier layer.
0-_-0 5y ago
Yet another link to a summary: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tsmc-makes-1nm-breakthrough https://www.tomshardware.com/news/tsmc-makes-1nm-breakthroug...

whichquestion 5y ago

The element driving this innovation is Bismuth. Bismuth connects the monolayer material (molybdenum disulfide) with the metal electrode. Bismuth is only twice as abundant as gold and its largest producer by far is China. China also decided in 2020 that their Fanya Metal Exchange bismuth stocks would be used internally for manufacturing[1]. I wonder, if Bismuth is largely required for large scale production of chips in the future, if it will drive more mining for bismuth, as it typically is a byproduct of other metal extraction, particularly lead. If not, would we then see in an increase in the price of Bismuth? Or is the volume of bismuth required for these chips not enough to drive global price increases? [1] https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021.pdf https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021.pdf

rurban 5y ago

Only Su is named, so only he is supposed to get the noble? Sounds unrealistic