We have heard of the perfect storm before, but how about the perfect transistor? That is what a single atom can achieve, thanks to the amount of work and time invested by physicists in creating a working transistor by using only a single phosphorus atom that is meticulously and precisely placed in a silicon crystal. This particular development could very well mark a huge step towards quantum computing, and while this is not the first single-atom transistors to be developed, it could very well be the ‘perfect’ one as it works. According to Professor Michelle Simmons, group leader and director of the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication at the University of New South Wales, “But this device is perfect. This is the first time anyone has shown control of a single atom in a substrate with this level of precise accuracy.”
The device comes with small visible markers that are etched onto its surface in order for researchers to connect metal contacts and apply a voltage. A scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) is used to see and manipulate atoms at the surface of the crystal within an ultra-high vacuum chamber, and thanks to the implementation of a lithographic process, the researchers managed to pattern phosphorus atoms into functional devices on the crystal. A non-reactive layer of hydrogen covers it then, where it is good to go. According to Moore’s Law, commercial single-atom transistors might see action in approximately 8 years’ time.
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