Information electronic materials mainly refer to materials used in the fields of microelectronics and optoelectronic technology and the basic industry of new components. They are generally divided into three categories: integrated circuit and semiconductor materials, optoelectronic materials, and new electronic component materials. Dielectric materials, piezoelectric materials, sensor materials, energy battery materials, optoelectronic materials and organic electronic materials, etc. Many of these materials involve nanometerization issues to achieve improved sensitivity, integration, or other properties. The nanometerization of materials and devices for information electronics reflects the constant pursuit of higher performance of devices in the development of the industry.
Integrated circuits and semiconductor materials
The most important semiconductor devices used in integrated circuits and microelectronics are transistors. The smaller the transistor manufacturing process, the more transistors can be integrated on the same volume chip, so the chip performance is stronger and the power consumption is smaller. The size of the transistor manufacturing process is measured by the width of the transistor gate. The theoretical minimum value of the traditional silicon-based transistor gate is about 5nm. The industrial mass production is basically silicon-based nano-transistors. However, there are some non-silicon nano-transistors in recent research.
Earlier, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced that for the first time, the performance of carbon nanotube transistors exceeded that of silicon-based transistors, and its performance was 1.9 times that of silicon transistors. The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory of the United States also announced that the research team led by the laboratory scientist Ali Javey has produced a transistor with a 1nm gate. The key to this research is the use of carbon nanotubes and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) Materials, which use carbon nanotubes as the gate material, thus breaking through the theoretical limit of the process of silicon transistors.
Optoelectronic materials
Optoelectronic materials are the basis for the development of optoelectronic information technology, mainly including laser materials, infrared detection materials and optical fiber materials. The optoelectronic materials can be made into nano-states to meet the needs of special applications or to obtain new properties for related devices.
1. Nano laser material
Laser materials are materials that convert various types of pump energy into lasers, which are working materials for lasers. On the laser, components made of nano-scale materials are sometimes used to improve their performance.
Previously, the Australian National University research found that by adding zinc atoms to the nano laser can significantly improve the performance of the laser. This laser has a nanometer diameter and is made of gallium arsenide. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced that it has discovered a simple new method to generate nanowires, which can be used to make nano-scale wires and color-tunable nano-scale laser generators.
2. Nano infrared detection materials
The infrared detector is an instrument that converts the target's infrared thermal radiation information into measurable electrical information through photoelectric conversion, so as to realize the thermal radiation information visualization at night. Infrared detection is extremely important for modern warfare. China has conducted many studies on nanomaterials in this field.
Prior to this, the State Key Laboratory of Infrared Physics of the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences had made progress in the research of new nanowire infrared photodetectors. The single nanowire field-effect transistors they successfully prepared realized wide-spectrum fast infrared detection.
3. Nano fiber material
Optical fiber is a tool that uses the principle of total reflection of light in fibers made of glass or plastic to realize light transmission, and is the basis of optical communication. Adding nano-materials or nano-structures to it, the nano-fiber material is formed.
Prior to this, American Fabogate announced that it had obtained an exclusive authorization from American TelAztec to develop "moth-eye anti-reflection" nanostructures for fiber optic cables. Compared with traditional anti-reflective coatings, Fibregate's "moth-eye anti-reflection" nano-structured optical fiber products have extremely high durability and efficient anti-reflective surfaces, are easy to clean and have excellent damage thresholds.
New electronic component materials
New electronic component materials have the trend of miniaturization, mainly including: nano magnetic materials, nano electronic ceramic materials, nano battery materials and nano information sensing materials.
1. Nano magnetic materials
In general, magnetic materials refer to substances that can directly or indirectly generate magnetism from the transition metal elements iron, cobalt, nickel and their alloys. According to the difficulty of demagnetization after magnetization, it can be divided into soft magnetic and hard magnetic. After magnetization, it is easy to remove the magnetism called soft magnetic material, and it is not easy to demagnetization is called hard magnetic material. At present, permanent magnetic materials have the development trend of high coercive force, high magnetic energy product and high remanence.
Previously, Tohoku University, Japan Institute of Electromagnetic Materials and other research institutions prepared transparent ferromagnetic thin-film materials by mixing iron-cobalt alloy nano-magnetic particles and aluminum fluoride, which is expected to be applied to next-generation transparent magnetic equipment such as automobiles and aircraft. China has also made some progress in the field of nanomagnetic materials. The research team of Ningbo Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a method for preparing hard magnetic nanoparticles in large quantities. It uses NaCl particles as a nucleation and growth medium for FePt nanoparticles to inhibit the occurrence of agglomeration. , The coercive force can be adjusted in 3.15-21.5 kOe.
2. Nanoelectronic ceramic materials
Electronic ceramics refer to ceramics that can utilize electrical and magnetic properties in the electronics industry. Normally, new functions can be obtained through precise control of the surface, grain boundaries, and size structure.
Previously, the research team of the University of Twente in the Netherlands has developed a new type of ceramic material, which has the flexibility of paper and the lightness of polymer materials, while still maintaining ultra-high temperature resistance, and is known as flexible ceramics, which is expected to become a new type of ceramic. The matrix material of electronic equipment. The preparation of the material uses ceramic nanofiber technology, which will not burn and melt when heated continuously at 1200 ℃ for 24 hours.
3. Nano battery material
At present, battery materials are developing in the direction of high specific energy, long life, and light weight, and lithium ion batteries are widely used in electronic equipment, new energy vehicles and other fields, and the degree of commercialization is extremely high. The battery materials mainly include positive electrode materials, negative electrode materials and separators, etc., wherein the electrode materials can be prepared in a nano state to improve the overall performance of the battery.
Previously, a new type of silicon-tin nano anode material was developed by the University of California, Riverside, which significantly increased the number of charge-discharge cycles of lithium-ion batteries. Compared with graphite-based negative electrode materials, it can increase the charging capacity by 3 times. After multiple cycles of silicon-tin nanocomposite negative electrode materials, it can still maintain excellent cycle stability and extend the service life of the battery. The use of silicon-tin nanocomposite anode materials combined with a simple manufacturing process can expand the application of lithium-ion batteries in the field of next-generation electric vehicles.
4. Nano information sensing materials
A sensor refers to a device or device that can sense a specified measurement and convert it into a usable output signal according to a certain rule, and usually consists of a sensitive element and a conversion element. The sensor is a detection device, which can sense the measured information, and can convert the detected information into electrical signals or other required forms of information output according to a certain rule to meet the transmission, processing, storage, Requirements for display, recording and control.
Previously, the Japanese Material Research Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology jointly developed a carbon nanotube chemical sensor that can be integrated into a smartphone to detect toxic gases, and can detect toxic gases through changes in conductivity.