EPFL Scientists Create Molybdenite Microchip

A team of scientists at the Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures at Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a microchip made from molybdenite.

The scientists were successful in creating two to six small serial transistors to perform the basic binary logic operations. Their success paves the way for the creation of larger chips and reinforces the physical advantages of molybdenite, which have mechanical flexibility, ability to reduce the size of the microchips and have lesser power consumption.

In comparison with silicon where scientists were not able to create silicon layers measuring less than 2 nm in thickness, molybdenite can be used with layers measuring only three atoms. The material showed the same stability and conduction properties at this level making it possible for the creation of chips that could be three times smaller in size. Molybdenite has the capacity to amplify its electronic signals to four times more than the incoming signal. Transistors made from the material can also be turned off and on quickly and can be turned into a complete standby mode. Molybdenite’s mechanical properties make it a possible alternative material in flexible electronics like designing flexible sheets of chips. These flexible sheets of chips can be used in computers that can be rolled up or as devices that can be attached to the human body.