By Anne Ju -
Making thin films out of semiconducting materials is analogous to how ice grows on a windowpane: When the conditions are just right, the semiconductor grows in flat crystals that slowly fuse together, eventually forming a continuous film.
This process of film deposition is common for traditional semiconductors like silicon or gallium arsenide – the basis of modern electronics – but Cornell scientists are pushing the limits for how thin they can go.
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Ref: High-mobility three-atom-thick semiconducting films with wafer-scale homogeneity. Nature (2015) | DOI:10.1038/nature14417