Spintronics

Silicon wafers are a key step in semiconductor manufacturing, but soon they might be replaced by a new material called Q-silicon for quantum computers and spintronic devices

Materials

Meet Q-silicon, a new magnetic material for spintronic quantum computers

A brand new form of silicon might help extend its use into the future. Engineers at North Carolina State University have discovered a material called Q-silicon, with new properties that could have important uses in quantum computers and spintronics.

An illustration depicting a topological insulator in action

Electronics

Strange material demonstrates exotic quantum state at room temperature

Many quantum effects can only be produced at extremely cold temperatures, which limits how useful they would be in real-world tech. Now, Princeton researchers have demonstrated a strange quantum state taking place in a material at room temperature.

Crystal structure of sodium bismuthide (Na3Bi), one of the newly discovered 3D topological Dirac semimetals (Image: arXiv.org)

Electronics

New materials mimic electronic properties of graphene in 3D

Exciting times are ahead in the high-tech industries with the discovery by three independent groups that a new class of materials mimic the special electronic properties of graphene in 3D.

A diagram of nanowires used in a Racetrack memory chip

Computing

'Racetrack memory' could be 100,000 times faster than hard drives

The proposed Racetrack computer memory system would reportedly be 100,000 times faster than today's hard drives.

Surface electron band structure of bismuth telluride. (Credit: Image courtesy of Yulin Chen and Z. X. Shen)

Electronics

Long sought-after material could revolutionize electronics

A newly discovered material could make heat dissipation in electronic circuits a thing of the past.