Common semiconductor materials for solar cells, such as silicon, must be grown via an expensive process to avoid defects within their crystal structure that affect functionality. But metal-halide perovskite semiconductors are emerging as a cheaper, alternative material class, with excellent and tunable functionality as well as easy processability.
Tag: Semiconductors
Science snapshots from Berkeley Lab
New Berkeley Lab breakthroughs: engineering chemical-producing microbes; watching enzyme reactions in real time; capturing the first image of ‘electron ice’; revealing how skyrmions really move
A simple way to get complex semiconductors to assemble themselves
A new way to make complex, layered semiconductors is like making rock candy: They assemble themselves from chemicals in water. The method will aid design and large-scale production of these materials.
LLNL, other Bay Area labs to host webinar about business partnerships, the future of semiconductors
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and its three partner national labs in the Bay Area Lab Innovation Networking Center (LINC) will offer a webinar about the future of semiconductors and advanced materials on Wednesday, Aug. 25.
MITRE Engenuity Forms Alliance to Define Strategy for U.S. Investment in Semiconductor Innovation
MITRE Engenuity has established a semiconductor alliance to help define strategy for U.S. investment in this critical area.
As EVs take off, semiconductor demand to rise amidst chip shortage
President Biden is meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday to discuss a critical global shortage of semiconductors — computer chips used in cars, consumer electronics and weapons systems. The administration is also expected to order a 100-day review of U.S. supply…

Dynamic Duos: How Particles Attach
Researchers have established a quantitative understanding of how nano-sized dipole particles assemble and crystalize. The driving force is the weak long-range attractive interaction between the dipoles that aligns the crystal faces of the particles prior to their collision. Stronger attractive forces then drive the final jump to connect the particles.

Driving Water Splitting to Create Chemical Fuels
Scientists improved the performance of bismuth vanadate, an electrode material for converting solar energy to hydrogen—an energy-dense and clean-burning fuel.

Decorating Semiconductors at the Atomic Scale
Combining two different semiconductors can create new properties. The way these combinations work depends on how the semiconductors are arranged and contact one another. Researchers have developed a new way to grow semiconductor crystals about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. This new synthesis method independently controls the arrangements and sizes of the crystals.

Breaking the Power & Speed Limit of Lasers
SUMMARYResearchers at the George Washington University have developed a new design of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) that demonstrates record-fast temporal bandwidth. This was possible by combining multiple transverse coupled cavities, which enhances optical feedback of the laser. VCSELs have emerged…

Berkeley Lab Part of Multi-Institutional Team Awarded $60M for Solar Fuels Research
The Department of Energy has awarded $60 million to a new solar fuels initiative – called the Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA) – led by Caltech in close partnership with Berkeley Lab. LiSA will build on the foundational work of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP).
Scientists Dive Deep Into Hidden World of Quantum States
A research team led by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has developed a technique that could lead to new electronic materials that surpass the limitations imposed by Moore’s Law.

Laser allows solid-state refrigeration of a semiconductor material
A team from the University of Washington used an infrared laser to cool a solid semiconductor by at least 20 degrees C, or 36 F, below room temperature, as they report in a paper published June 23 in Nature Communications.

Crystalline ‘nanobrush’ clears way to advanced energy and information tech
A team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory synthesized a “nanobrush” structure with high surface area and discovered how its unique architecture drives ions across interfaces to transport energy or information.

Linking Properties to Defects in 2D Materials
Scientists measured the atomic and electronic structure of a two-dimensional semiconductor to understand defects in the crystal structure. The measurements were made at the same time and at the same location, and the quantum orbitals associated with the defects were visualized using an ultra-sharp probe made from a single carbon monoxide molecule.

Wrapped, Layered Semiconductors Catch the Light
Heterostructures are semiconductors that have special optical and electronic properties. Researchers discovered a new way to make heterostructures that consist of a core of tin sulfide crystals wrapped in a tin disulfide shell, a structure with excellent light absorption and energy transfer properties.

How JCAP Is Making Solar Fuels Shine
As we look back at a decade of discovery, we highlight 10 achievements by scientists at Berkeley Lab and the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis that bring us closer to a solar fuels future.