Superconducting nanowire crystals could greatly enhance functionality of future electronics

01/16/2015 - 00:00


The development and quality of extremely small electronic circuits are critical to how and how well future computers and other electronic devices will function. The new material, comprised of both a semiconductor and metal, has a special superconducting property at very low temperatures and could play a central role in the development of future electronics.

Our new material was born as a hybrid between a semiconducting nanowire and its electronic contact. Thus we have invented a way to make a perfect transition between the nanowire and a superconductor. The superconductor in this case is aluminium. There is great potential in this, says Associate Professor Thomas Sand Jespersen, who has worked in the field for more than 10 years, ever since research into nanowire crystals has existed at the Nano-Science Center at the Niels Bohr Institute.

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