Tougher electronic components
RESEARCHERS in the US and UK have created two durable compounds that exhibit very low, nearly superconductive electrical resistance – properties that could be used to develop smaller, faster and tougher electronic components.
Alexander Goncharov from the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s Geophysical Laboratory and colleagues from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US and the Atomic Weapons Establishment in England used extreme temperatures and pressures to make the two noble metal nitrides, one containing iridium and another with platinum. Goncharov believes the materials could eventually replace the titanium nitrides currently valued by the semiconductor industry as surface coatings because of their strength and durability.
“We are still attempting to ascertain the electronic properties of these new materials,” he said. “Generally speaking, these nitrides are likely to exhibit several properties that will make them attractive for technological applications. They are potentially important for the electronics industry as durable and reliable coatings, substrates and conductors. One can also envisage optoelectronic devices, sensitive magnetometers and other metrological equipment that employ these materials.”
Though other researchers have previously made platinum nitride, Goncharov’s group is the first to discover that for every platinum atom, there are two nitrogen atoms rather than just one. They are also the first to make iridium nitride, which they found has the same basic chemical formula as platinum nitride. In both cases, strong bonds that the dual nitrogen atoms make with the metal atom contribute to the nitrides’ hardness and durability. The noble metals, in turn, contribute unusual electronic properties.
If you are involved in or know of a project that uses innovative Australian electronics, then why not enter it into the 2006 EDN Innovation Awards? For criteria and entry forms, visit www.ferret.com.au/FerretAwards/EDNAwards.asp.
7-Apr-2006