A new technique using liquid metals to create integrated circuits that are just atoms thick could lead to the next big advance for electronics.
The process opens the way for the production of large wafers around 1.5 nanometres in depth (a sheet of paper, by comparison, is 100,000nm thick).
Other techniques have proven unreliable in terms of quality, difficult to scale up and function only at very high temperatures—550 degrees or more.
Distinguished Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, from the School of Engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, led the project, which also included colleagues from RMIT and researchers from CSIRO, Monash University, North Carolina State University and the University of California.
He said the electronics industry had hit a barrier.
"The fundamental technology of car engines has not progressed since 1920 and now the same is happening to electronics. Mobile phones and computers are no more powerful than five years ago.
"That is why this new 2D printing technique is so important—creating many layers of incredibly thin electronic chips on the same surface dramatically increases processing power and reduces costs.
"It will allow for the next revolution in electronics."
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