Berkeley Lab researchers characterize individual defects inside a bulk insulator using scanning tunneling microscopy Nanoscale defects are enormously important in shaping the electrical, optical, and mechanical properties of a material. For example, a defect may donate charge or scatter electrons moving from one point to another. However, observing individual defects in bulk insulators, a ubiquitous… Continue Reading Defects Through the Looking Glass
Author: Jairo Velasco Jr.
Lighting the Way to Graphene-based Devices
Berkeley Lab Researchers Use Light to Dope Graphene Boron Nitride Heterostructures Graphene continues to reign as the next potential superstar material for the electronics industry, a slimmer, stronger and much faster electron conductor than silicon. With no natural energy band-gap, however, graphene’s superfast conductance can’t be switched off, a serious drawback for transistors and other… Continue Reading Lighting the Way to Graphene-based Devices
Bilayer Graphene Works as an Insulator
A research team led by physicists at the University of California, Riverside has identified a property of “bilayer graphene” (BLG) that the researchers say is analogous to finding the Higgs boson in particle physics. Graphene, nature’s thinnest elastic material, is a one-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Because of graphene’s… Continue Reading Bilayer Graphene Works as an Insulator