MIT engineers are shaking up the world of electronics with their latest creation—a magnetic transistor that holds the promise of more energy-efficient gadgets. As reported by MIT News, these tech wizards have swapped out traditional silicon for a magnetic semiconductor, with the hope of creating electronic circuits that are smaller, faster, and more friendly to our batteries.
The team used chromium sulfur bromide to dust off the limitations of silicon, the material is a two-dimensional one that doesn't just sit there; it's magnetic, which means it can manipulate the flow of electricity in new and improved ways, and Chung-Tao Chou, an MIT graduate student and co-lead author of the study, says "People have known about magnets for thousands of years, but there are very limited ways to incorporate magnetism into electronics," Chung-Tao Chou told MIT News.
Beyond simply acting like a switch, the researchers have endowed their transistors with the ability to remember things, which could mean your future smartphone might not need separate components for memory and processing—a real space-saver. MIT's Luqiao Liu, an associate professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and a member of the Research Laboratory of Electronics, chipped in, "Now, not only are transistors turning on and off, they are also remembering information," according to the MIT News report.
This revolution in transistor tech isn't just about what's on the inside; it's about how it's put together, using tape instead of solvents or glue for cleaner surfaces and to avoid contamination, that's how they stay on top of performance, most magnetic transistors can barely nudge the flow of current, but not MIT's version—it can switch or amplify the electric current by a factor of ten and they're looking to scale up their process and roll out arrays of these shiny new transistors.
