Breakthrough in Electric Field Mapping Could Lead the Way to Faster, More Efficient Electronics
The ability to accurately measure and visualize the electric fields in running devices is going to give semiconductor designers a big boost.
A team of researchers from the University of Bristol have claimed a breakthrough that, they say, could help improve both the performance and efficiency of the semiconductors used in future electronics — a key step towards a carbon-neutral society.
"Semiconductors can be made to conduct positive or negative charges and can therefore be designed to modulate and manipulate current," explains Martin Kuball, professor at the University of Bristol's School of Physics. "However, these semiconductor devices do not stop with silicon, there are many others including gallium nitride (used in blue LEDs, for example)."
"These semiconductor devices, which for instance convert an AC current from a power line into a DC current, result in a loss of energy as waste heat – look at your laptop for example, the power brick is getting warm or even hot. If we could improve efficiency and reduce this waste heat, we will save energy."
The problem with attempting to reduce this wastage lies in actually measuring it. "One applies a voltage to an electronic device," Kuball explains, "and as a result there is an output current used in the application."
"Inside this electronic device is an electric field which determines how this device works and how long it will be operational and how good its operation is. No one could actually measure this electric field, so fundamental to the device operation. One always relied on simulation which is hard to trust unless you can actually test its accuracy."
The breakthrough, then, lies in accurately measuring and mapping the electric field within an active gallium nitride device — one of the forerunners for the technology which could succeed silicon chips as the driving force behind future electronics. The mapping tool will give designers a way to quantify the results of changes in manufacturing and design, making it easier to calibrate simulations and build more efficient electronics.
"This development helps the UK and the world to develop energy saving semiconductor devices," Kuball claims, "which is a step towards a carbon neutral society."
The team's work has been published under open-access terms in the journal Nature Electronics.