New type of semiconductor may advance low-energy electronics

Nine layers of SnSe that were epitaxially grown on an a-plane sapphire substrate. Credit: Wouter Mortelmans/MIT. All Rights Reserved.
A research partnership between Penn State and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) could enable an improved method to make a new type of semiconductor that is a few atoms thin and interacts with light in an unusual way. This new semiconductor could lead to new computing and communications technologies that use lower amounts of energy than current electronics.