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The Print
30-06-2025
- Science
- The Print
World's first computer devoid of silicon shows it is possible to replace it someday: Researchers
'Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor', or CMOS, is widely used in designing electronic circuits. It consumes low power and accommodates more components. Built at a nanofabrication unit at The Pennsylvania State University in the US, the research team has demonstrated the successful working of the world's first CMOS computer made using two-dimensional materials, which are paper-thin, but at the nano-level. It is described in a paper in the journal Nature. New Delhi, Jun 29 (PTI) Researchers have built a computer from scratch without silicon, a 'milestone' in showing that it is possible to one day replace the material that fuelled the bulk of technology advancements over the past half a century, by making devices smaller and faster. The development is acknowledged as pioneering and a starting point in creating not just alternatives to silicon, but a roadmap for a new generation of still smaller, more flexible electronics. Saptarshi Das, professor of engineering science and mechanics at the The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), and lead researcher on the paper, told PTI, 'In the short term, you would like to augment silicon with these two-dimensional (2D) materials, because they offer new functionalities — including in sensors and memory devices. 'This is why our paper is, I would say, a milestone, because it shows that it is possible in a way to replace silicon one day,' Das said. Silicon, whose conductivity can be manipulated for controlling electricity flow, has been foundational in advancing technology by helping electronics shrink in size, since 1947 when a transistor was first made using the material. A transistor regulates electric signals and acts as a building block for an electronic circuit. But now, nearly seven decades later, as electronic devices continue to become smaller, silicon may have hit a wall — scientists say it may not be able to function as well, if devices are to get tinier. Das said, 'The trajectory of silicon has stalled.' Lead author Subir Ghosh, a doctoral student at Penn State, explains, 'We have used molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2) — both quite common in the 2D materials community — to make our semiconductor devices.' 'Here at Penn State, you can grow this material over a large two-inch wafer. They are also scaleable, which means that the industry can also adopt these 2D material,' Ghosh added. The semiconductor industry is said to be governed by Moore's law, according to which the number of transistors in circulation double every 18 months (a year and a half). However, transistors are no longer becoming smaller. This is because silicon is a bulky material — like a brick — which cannot be made any smaller owing to detrimental effects, such as an increased leakage current, power consumption and a reduced performance of the device, Das explained over a video call. 'Now, for example, if we need to construct a multi-storied building, we will use bricks. But now, what if I tell you that the best choice for this building is not bricks — but paper, which is extremely thin. You can then get back all the good qualities you need to make a device very small,' Das said. Research teams around the world, including China, are fiercely working for over a decade in developing 2D materials to initially support silicon in making smaller devices, but eventually transition away from having to use the bulky material itself. Scientists at China's Fudan University have created a RISC-V microprocessor chip by assembling transistors made of 2D materials. The chip, described in a paper published in April in the journal Nature, also used a low power to function. Mayank Shrivastava, professor at the division of electrical, electronics and computer sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and not involved in the study, told PTI, that a successful demonstration of the computer built using 2D materials is pioneering and 'marks a watershed moment in the evolution of semiconductor technology.' 'While we have seen individual devices and simple circuits from 2D materials before, building an actual computer, even one with a single instruction set, completely from 2D semiconductors is a bold leap,' he said. Shrivastava added that these developments are also a 'wake-up call that the silicon race is maturing, and the next race, based on 2D materials, has already begun'. Das from Penn State explained that the 2D computer — a primitive one that present day semiconductor foundries might be building in the 1960s — was designed to perform a single instruction, which on repeat, can do all the basic functions of addition, subtraction and multiplication. Ghosh explained this single instruction, named 'reverse subtract, skip if borrow'. 'In order to subtract, you have two numbers. But while subtracting a bigger number from a smaller one, we need to 'borrow'. So, when a 'borrow' is raised, our computer will skip that instruction and move on to the next,' the lead author said. The computer achieved a high drive current, with a low leakage and power dissipation, enabling 2D-semiconductor circuits to operate below three volts and up to 25 kiloHertz of frequency, the study says. Shrivastava, not involved in the study, said 2D materials hold the promise of pushing electronics beyond what silicon alone can offer. 'With atomic-scale thickness, high mobility, and near-ideal electrostatic control, these materials are natural candidates for continuing Moore's Law in spirit, through performance-per-watt improvements, ultra-low leakage, and unprecedented device scaling,' he said. The field of 2D materials — no longer a 'potential' one, but a strategic imperative — offers a rare opportunity to leapfrog into next-generation semiconductor leadership, he added. However, the Penn State study's limitations need to be considered, the IISc professor said. 'The operating speed of 25 kiloHertz is still far behind silicon, while challenges remain in improving channel mobility, gate oxides, contacts, managing parasitics, reliability, ensuring yield, and achieving top-gate device integration or nanosheet devices for scale,' he said. 'It is also vital to emphasise that while this milestone is academically significant, its commercial translation hinges on building infrastructure — testbeds, fabrication capabilities, tool ecosystems, and skillsets — that don't yet exist in many countries.' Despite the limits, Shrivastava described the 2D computer as a 'foundational milestone that, over time, have historically driven transformative changes.' On Friday, India's electronics and IT Ministry was reported to consider funding research on 2D materials. They plan on floating expressions of interest for selecting which projects to fund, officials said. PTI KRS NB This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
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Business Standard
29-06-2025
- Science
- Business Standard
World's first silicon-free computer proves potential for future replacement
Researchers have built a computer from scratch without silicon, a "milestone" in showing that it is possible to one day replace the material that fuelled the bulk of technology advancements over the past half a century, by making devices smaller and faster. Built at a nanofabrication unit at The Pennsylvania State University in the US, the research team has demonstrated the successful working of the world's first CMOS computer made using two-dimensional materials, which are paper-thin, but at the nano-level. It is described in a paper in the journal Nature. 'Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor', or CMOS, is widely used in designing electronic circuits. It consumes low power and accommodates more components. The development is acknowledged as pioneering and a starting point in creating not just alternatives to silicon, but a roadmap for a new generation of still smaller, more flexible electronics. Saptarshi Das, professor of engineering science and mechanics at the The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), and lead researcher on the paper, told PTI, "In the short term, you would like to augment silicon with these two-dimensional (2D) materials, because they offer new functionalities -- including in sensors and memory devices. "This is why our paper is, I would say, a milestone, because it shows that it is possible in a way to replace silicon one day," Das said. Silicon, whose conductivity can be manipulated for controlling electricity flow, has been foundational in advancing technology by helping electronics shrink in size, since 1947 when a transistor was first made using the material. A transistor regulates electric signals and acts as a building block for an electronic circuit. But now, nearly seven decades later, as electronic devices continue to become smaller, silicon may have hit a wall -- scientists say it may not be able to function as well, if devices are to get tinier. Das said, "The trajectory of silicon has stalled." Lead author Subir Ghosh, a doctoral student at Penn State, explains, "We have used molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2) -- both quite common in the 2D materials community -- to make our semiconductor devices." "Here at Penn State, you can grow this material over a large two-inch wafer. They are also scaleable, which means that the industry can also adopt these 2D material," Ghosh added. The semiconductor industry is said to be governed by Moore's law, according to which the number of transistors in circulation double every 18 months (a year and a half). However, transistors are no longer becoming smaller. This is because silicon is a bulky material -- like a brick -- which cannot be made any smaller owing to detrimental effects, such as an increased leakage current, power consumption and a reduced performance of the device, Das explained over a video call. "Now, for example, if we need to construct a multi-storied building, we will use bricks. But now, what if I tell you that the best choice for this building is not bricks -- but paper, which is extremely thin. You can then get back all the good qualities you need to make a device very small," Das said. Research teams around the world, including China, are fiercely working for over a decade in developing 2D materials to initially support silicon in making smaller devices, but eventually transition away from having to use the bulky material itself. Scientists at China's Fudan University have created a RISC-V microprocessor chip by assembling transistors made of 2D materials. The chip, described in a paper published in April in the journal Nature, also used a low power to function. Mayank Shrivastava, professor at the division of electrical, electronics and computer sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and not involved in the study, told PTI, that a successful demonstration of the computer built using 2D materials is pioneering and "marks a watershed moment in the evolution of semiconductor technology." "While we have seen individual devices and simple circuits from 2D materials before, building an actual computer, even one with a single instruction set, completely from 2D semiconductors is a bold leap," he said. Shrivastava added that these developments are also a "wake-up call that the silicon race is maturing, and the next race, based on 2D materials, has already begun". Das from Penn State explained that the 2D computer -- a primitive one that present day semiconductor foundries might be building in the 1960s -- was designed to perform a single instruction, which on repeat, can do all the basic functions of addition, subtraction and multiplication. Ghosh explained this single instruction, named 'reverse subtract, skip if borrow'. "In order to subtract, you have two numbers. But while subtracting a bigger number from a smaller one, we need to 'borrow'. So, when a 'borrow' is raised, our computer will skip that instruction and move on to the next," the lead author said. The computer achieved a high drive current, with a low leakage and power dissipation, enabling 2D-semiconductor circuits to operate below three volts and up to 25 kiloHertz of frequency, the study says. Shrivastava, not involved in the study, said 2D materials hold the promise of pushing electronics beyond what silicon alone can offer. "With atomic-scale thickness, high mobility, and near-ideal electrostatic control, these materials are natural candidates for continuing Moore's Law in spirit, through performance-per-watt improvements, ultra-low leakage, and unprecedented device scaling," he said. The field of 2D materials -- no longer a 'potential' one, but a strategic imperative -- offers a rare opportunity to leapfrog into next-generation semiconductor leadership, he added. However, the Penn State study's limitations need to be considered, the IISc professor said. "The operating speed of 25 kiloHertz is still far behind silicon, while challenges remain in improving channel mobility, gate oxides, contacts, managing parasitics, reliability, ensuring yield, and achieving top-gate device integration or nanosheet devices for scale," he said. "It is also vital to emphasise that while this milestone is academically significant, its commercial translation hinges on building infrastructure -- testbeds, fabrication capabilities, tool ecosystems, and skillsets -- that don't yet exist in many countries." Despite the limits, Shrivastava described the 2D computer as a "foundational milestone that, over time, have historically driven transformative changes." On Friday, India's electronics and IT Ministry was reported to consider funding research on 2D materials. They plan on floating expressions of interest for selecting which projects to fund, officials said.
Time of India
29-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Researchers build world's first computer without silicon using 2D materials at Penn State
Researchers have built a computer from scratch without silicon , a "milestone" in showing that it is possible to one day replace the material that fuelled the bulk of technology advancements over the past half a century, by making devices smaller and faster. Built at a nanofabrication unit at The Pennsylvania State University in the US, the research team has demonstrated the successful working of the world's first CMOS computer made using two-dimensional materials, which are paper-thin, but at the nano-level. It is described in a paper in the journal Nature. ' Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor ', or CMOS, is widely used in designing electronic circuits. It consumes low power and accommodates more components. The development is acknowledged as pioneering and a starting point in creating not just alternatives to silicon, but a roadmap for a new generation of still smaller, more flexible electronics. Saptarshi Das, professor of engineering science and mechanics at the The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), and lead researcher on the paper, told PTI, "In the short term, you would like to augment silicon with these two-dimensional (2D) materials, because they offer new functionalities -- including in sensors and memory devices. Live Events "This is why our paper is, I would say, a milestone, because it shows that it is possible in a way to replace silicon one day," Das said. Silicon, whose conductivity can be manipulated for controlling electricity flow, has been foundational in advancing technology by helping electronics shrink in size, since 1947 when a transistor was first made using the material. A transistor regulates electric signals and acts as a building block for an electronic circuit. But now, nearly seven decades later, as electronic devices continue to become smaller, silicon may have hit a wall -- scientists say it may not be able to function as well, if devices are to get tinier. Das said, "The trajectory of silicon has stalled." Lead author Subir Ghosh, a doctoral student at Penn State, explains, "We have used molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2) -- both quite common in the 2D materials community -- to make our semiconductor devices." "Here at Penn State, you can grow this material over a large two-inch wafer. They are also scaleable, which means that the industry can also adopt these 2D material," Ghosh added. The semiconductor industry is said to be governed by Moore's law, according to which the number of transistors in circulation double every 18 months (a year and a half). However, transistors are no longer becoming smaller. This is because silicon is a bulky material -- like a brick -- which cannot be made any smaller owing to detrimental effects, such as an increased leakage current, power consumption and a reduced performance of the device, Das explained over a video call. "Now, for example, if we need to construct a multi-storied building, we will use bricks. But now, what if I tell you that the best choice for this building is not bricks -- but paper, which is extremely thin. You can then get back all the good qualities you need to make a device very small," Das said. Research teams around the world, including China, are fiercely working for over a decade in developing 2D materials to initially support silicon in making smaller devices, but eventually transition away from having to use the bulky material itself. Scientists at China's Fudan University have created a RISC-V microprocessor chip by assembling transistors made of 2D materials. The chip, described in a paper published in April in the journal Nature, also used a low power to function. Mayank Shrivastava, professor at the division of electrical, electronics and computer sciences, Indian Institute of Science , Bengaluru, and not involved in the study, told PTI, that a successful demonstration of the computer built using 2D materials is pioneering and "marks a watershed moment in the evolution of semiconductor technology." "While we have seen individual devices and simple circuits from 2D materials before, building an actual computer, even one with a single instruction set, completely from 2D semiconductors is a bold leap," he said. Shrivastava added that these developments are also a "wake-up call that the silicon race is maturing, and the next race, based on 2D materials, has already begun". Das from Penn State explained that the 2D computer -- a primitive one that present day semiconductor foundries might be building in the 1960s -- was designed to perform a single instruction, which on repeat, can do all the basic functions of addition, subtraction and multiplication. Ghosh explained this single instruction, named 'reverse subtract, skip if borrow'. "In order to subtract, you have two numbers. But while subtracting a bigger number from a smaller one, we need to 'borrow'. So, when a 'borrow' is raised, our computer will skip that instruction and move on to the next," the lead author said. The computer achieved a high drive current, with a low leakage and power dissipation, enabling 2D-semiconductor circuits to operate below three volts and up to 25 kiloHertz of frequency, the study says. Shrivastava, not involved in the study, said 2D materials hold the promise of pushing electronics beyond what silicon alone can offer. "With atomic-scale thickness, high mobility, and near-ideal electrostatic control, these materials are natural candidates for continuing Moore's Law in spirit, through performance-per-watt improvements, ultra-low leakage, and unprecedented device scaling," he said. The field of 2D materials -- no longer a 'potential' one, but a strategic imperative -- offers a rare opportunity to leapfrog into next-generation semiconductor leadership, he added. However, the Penn State study's limitations need to be considered, the IISc professor said. "The operating speed of 25 kiloHertz is still far behind silicon, while challenges remain in improving channel mobility, gate oxides, contacts, managing parasitics, reliability, ensuring yield, and achieving top-gate device integration or nanosheet devices for scale," he said. "It is also vital to emphasise that while this milestone is academically significant, its commercial translation hinges on building infrastructure -- testbeds, fabrication capabilities, tool ecosystems, and skillsets -- that don't yet exist in many countries." Despite the limits, Shrivastava described the 2D computer as a "foundational milestone that, over time, have historically driven transformative changes." On Friday, India's electronics and IT Ministry was reported to consider funding research on 2D materials. They plan on floating expressions of interest for selecting which projects to fund, officials said.
Hindustan Times
18-06-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Mystery signals detected in Antarctica evoke hope of finding new particles: Report
Scientists have recently detected a pattern of strange signals in the sky above Antarctica. It defies current physics models and could represent a new particle, scientists told Discovered by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, the signal pulses were found at about 40 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. According to a report by The Pennsylvania State University(PSU), Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) comprises ranging instruments that are flown on balloons. Designed in a specialized manner to detect radio waves or subatomic particles from cosmic rays that hit the atmosphere, ANITA experiment balloons hover high above Antarctica skies. 'We use radio detectors to try to build really, really large telescopes,' said Stephanie Wissel, associate professor of physics, astronomy and astrophysics who worked on the ANITA team searching for signals from elusive particles called neutrinos. Neutrinos are a type of subatomic particle with no charge. They are abundant in the universe. Usually emitted by high-energy sources like the sun or major cosmic events like supernovas or even the Big Bang, there are neutrino signals everywhere, says the report. Wissel has designed experiments to spot neutrinos over Antarctica and South America. The new study provides enhanced context to a nearly decade-old results. Between 2016 and 2018, an ongoing ANITA experiment in Antarctica observed a series of unusual radio signals, according to an international research group that included scientists from Penn State. According to a paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the team said that the signal pulses had to pass through thousands of kilometers of rock before reaching the detector, that is up in the sky. This would weaken or completely stop any neutrinos or cosmic rays. The signals that were recently detected were however still strong, possibly implying that something unusual was underway. 'The radio waves that we detected nearly a decade ago were at really steep angles, like 30 degrees below the surface of the ice,' Wissel from PSU added context to the journal. Wissel further explained one possibility whereby unknown radio signal behaviour could be detected in icy or near-horizon conditions. 'My guess is that some interesting radio propagation effect occurs near ice and also near the horizon that I don't fully understand,' she said. 'Right now it's one of those long-standing mysteries,' she added. As the angle of these newly detected signals is sharper than current models of physics allow, the backtracking process isn't possible in this case, said a report by Other neutrino detectors like the IceCube Experiment and the Pierre Auger Observatory could not detect anything that could explain the new signals and their upward-oriented air shower, which defies the usual rule. The ANITA researchers have termed the newly found signals as "anomalous," affirming that they were not caused by neutrinos.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ancient Beaches Found on Mars Reveal The Red Planet Once Had Oceans
Mars – dusty, dry, and desert-clad – was once so rich in water it had not just lakes, but oceans, according to a new study. Observations using ground-penetrating radar have revealed underground features consistent with beaches on the red planet, 4 billion years ago. It's some of the best evidence to date that Mars was once so soggy as to host a northern sea. The research team has named that sea Deuteronilus. "We're finding places on Mars that used to look like ancient beaches and ancient river deltas," says geologist Benjamin Cardenas of The Pennsylvania State University. "We found evidence for wind, waves, no shortage of sand – a proper, vacation-style beach." The water history of Mars is a huge puzzle. At a glance, the planet looks as though it has never seen a drop of liquid. Its global dust storms are legendary. It would be easy to believe that Mars has always been a ball of dry rock; yet a growing, and overwhelming, body of evidence shows that Mars didn't just have liquid water on its surface once upon a time, but that the liquid flowed in abundance. So there's no longer any question that water existed on Mars. But there are still a lot of other questions. How much water was there? How long ago did it vanish? Where did it go, and how? "Oceans are important on planets. Oceans have a large effect on climate, they shape the surface of planets, and they are potentially habitable environments," geophysicist Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley told ScienceAlert. "Hence the 'follow the water' theme of Mars exploration. Most exciting to me was the chance to look beneath the surface at a place we think there could have been an ocean and to see what we think are beach deposits." Using data collected by the Chinese National Space Administration's (CNSA) Zhurong Mars rover, a joint Chinese-American team led by engineer Jianhui Li and geologist Hai Liu of Guangzhou University has now given us a deeper answer to the first question, at least: enough to fill an ocean. As it traveled along the Utopia Planitia, Zhurong used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to take measurements of the rock up to 80 meters (260 feet) below the surface of Mars. This technology sends radio waves into the ground; when they encounter materials of varying densities, they bounce back in different ways, allowing the generation of a three-dimensional map of structures deep below ground. A previous study based on Zhurong data had found features that suggested a shoreline, but that interpretation was not confirmed. The GPR data revealed thick layers of material along Zhurong's route, sloped upwards towards the supposed shoreline at an angle of 15 degrees, just like ancient buried shorelines on Earth. "The structures don't look like sand dunes. They don't look like an impact crater. They don't look like lava flows. That's when we started thinking about oceans," Manga says. "The orientations of these features are parallel to what the old shoreline would have been. They have both the right orientation and the right slope to support the idea that there was an ocean for a long period of time to accumulate the sand-like beach." These features imply a large, liquid ocean, fed by rivers dumping sediment, as well as waves and tides. This also suggests that Mars had a water cycle for millions of years – the length of time such deposits take to form on Earth. Such deposits would not form at the edges of a lake. "The bigger the body of water, the bigger the tides can get. And there is more space and time for wind to make bigger waves. Bigger tides and waves help shape beaches," Manga told ScienceAlert. Mars doesn't have Earth's Moon, which exerts the biggest influence on our tides here on Earth. But the Sun also exerts an influence on Earth's ocean tides. Although ocean tides on Mars might look quite different from what we're used to here at home, they would have existed. And surface waves are generated by wind, which Mars has aplenty. The new discovery bolsters the case for past habitable conditions on Mars for life as we know it, and suggests a place to look for signs of ancient life on the red planet, if we can get there with the right equipment. "Coastal environments where there is water, land, and atmosphere all together are potentially habitable environments. Knowing where and when those environments existed can help guide where we explore and how we interpret other observations like those from satellites," Manga said. "Shorelines are great locations to look for evidence of past life. It's thought that the earliest life on Earth began at locations like this, near the interface of air and shallow water." Recent research by Manga and his colleagues suggests that much of Mars' water may have been swallowed up into its interior, where it lurks today as vast, unreachable liquid reservoirs. This new paper could be the next piece of the puzzle: the presence of sufficient liquid water to fill those reservoirs during Mars's fascinating, mysterious past. The next step, though, will be to interrogate the idea of liquid oceans further, and try to model those alien waves and tides. The team's research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A Rare Alignment of 7 Planets Is Taking Place in The Sky This Week Rock Fragments Reveal The Moment The Moon Turned Solid Black Hole at The Center of Our Galaxy Seen 'Bubbling' With Activity
