A promising new approach to building computer chips could dramatically reduce the energy needed for computing, including the rapidly growing demands of artificial intelligence. At the center of the breakthrough is a special class of materials known as multiferroics, which combine electrical and magnetic properties that can be controlled together using extremely small voltages.
These materials could make future electronics far more energy efficient than today's technology. However, a major obstacle has prevented their use in conventional computer chips. When multiferroics are made thin enough to fit inside these devices, they typically lose the electrical and magnetic behavior that makes them valuable. Scientists call this problem the "dead layer" effect.
Researchers at Brown University have now developed a way to overcome this limitation. Their technique produces extremely thin films of bismuth ferrite, a widely studied multiferroic material, without sacrificing its essential properties. Even more remarkably, the process gives the material new magnetic characteristics that could make it especially useful for future electronics.
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