Silicon's Successors: Graphene and Compound Semiconductors

Hey People,

In this blog, I am going to write about our beloved semiconductor element and its possible successor. Since the inception of the micro-electronics Silicon is being in the forefront serving this space.

Silicon is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and in its pure form the material has become the foundation of modern technology, from solar cells to computer chips. But silicon’s properties as a semiconductor are far from ideal.

Although silicon lets electrons whizz through its structure easily, it is much less accommodating to holes and harnessing both is important for some kinds of chips. What’s more, silicon is not very good at conducting heat, which is why overheating issues and expensive cooling systems are common in computers.

With Silicon pushed to its limits in the industry, Its obvious we need a new semiconductor element which is better than Silicon. It is important to know that silicon-based chips are not yet 'dead' as such. Rather, they are far past their peak in terms of performance. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be thinking about what can replace them. Computers and future tech will need to be more agile and extremely powerful. To deliver this, we will need something far superior to current silicon-based computer chips. Of the many materials under investigation as partners for silicon to improve its electronic performance, perhaps two looks promising in the short term.

Potential Alternatives to Silicon: Graphene

Graphene is a 2D material with an enormous amount of flexibility in terms of how it can be formed. The potential applications of graphene are vast, ranging from medicine to solar energy, to sensing technology. The most pertinent use is certainly in electronics. Graphene is the most conductive material that material researchers know of. Microchips that use graphene can sustain many more transistors than commonly used materials like silicon. This alone will make electronics more efficient. The real benefit that graphene can provide is in the elimination of carbon created in silicon refinement.

At one point, graphene was immensely more expensive. With improvements to chemical vapor deposition, producing graphene is cheaper than ever before. Another key photonic advancement in 2D materials is the pulsed molecular beam epoxy. Molecular beam epoxy (or epitaxy) can deposit thin films, promoting the growth of single crystal layers.

Potential Alternatives to Silicon:  compound semiconductors

Next-gen semiconductors made from two or more elements whose properties make them faster and more efficient than silicon. The advent of compound semiconductors is a game-changer that has the potential to be as transformational as the internet has been for communications. That’s because compound semiconductors could be as much as 100 times faster than silicon, so could power the explosion of devices expected with the growth of the Iot.