Cubic boron arsenide is one of the best semiconductors known to science and could even dethrone silicon as the principal component of modern electronics. This finding, from teams headed by Gang Chen at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and Xinfeng Liu of the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology in Beijing, China, is based on experiments showing that small, pure regions of the material display a thermal conductivity and charge carrier mobility that far outperforms those of existing widely-used semiconductors, including silicon. The results validate theoretical predictions and suggest that cubic boron arsenide could revolutionize the field of electronics – at least in principle.
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