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New replacement for silicon

by on18 June 2009

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At least in Quantum computers


Boffins working
on bismuth telluride have discovered that it has new new properties that paves the way for chips for quantum computers.

Writing in Science Express, boffins from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University said that they have created a new form of bismuth telluride that allows electrons on the surface of the
material to act like photons.

This means that they can travel with no loss of energy, and maintain specific spins for an indefinite period of time. One of the boffins Yulin Chen said that the properties allow us to make low-energy spintronic devices that could be a successor to silicon.

Spintronic devices are like the PR managers of the chip world. They use the spin, rather than the charge, of materials to store information. This is the basis quantum computing, which is a technology which has mostly only been theorised about. But with material that can do the job better than silicon it is one step closer to happening.
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