{"id":50124,"date":"2025-07-09T01:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/50124\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T01:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:10:08","slug":"scientists-find-new-way-to-control-electricity-at-tiniest-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/50124\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists find new way to control electricity at tiniest scale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scientists<\/p>\n

Electrode alignment with the red paths of the silicon molecule induce destructive quantum interference in the molecular wire. Credit: Tim Su\/UCR<\/p>\n

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have uncovered how to manipulate electrical flow through crystalline silicon, a material at the heart of modern technology. The discovery could lead to smaller, faster, and more efficient devices by harnessing quantum electron behavior.<\/p>\n

At the quantum scale, electrons behave more like waves than particles. And now, scientists have shown that the symmetrical structure of silicon molecules can be fine-tuned to create, or suppress, a phenomenon known as destructive interference<\/a>. The effect can turn conductivity “on” or “off,” functioning as a molecular-scale switch.<\/p>\n

“We found that when tiny silicon structures are shaped with high symmetry, they can cancel out electron flow like noise-canceling headphones,” said Tim Su, a UCR chemistry professor who led the study. “What’s exciting is that we can control it.”<\/p>\n

Published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the research<\/a> breaks ground in understanding how electricity moves through silicon at the smallest possible scale, atom by atom.<\/p>\n

The finding comes as the tech industry hits a wall in shrinking conventional silicon chips. Traditional methods rely on carving tiny circuits into silicon wafers<\/a> or doping, which means adding small amounts of other elements to control how silicon conducts electricity.<\/p>\n

These techniques have worked well for decades, but they’re approaching physical limits: you can only carve so small, and added atoms can’t fix problems caused by quantum effects<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Scientists<\/p>\n

Chemical structure of bulk silicon, with the simplest building block of the solid highlighted in blue. Credit: Tim Su\/UCR<\/p>\n

By contrast, Su and his team used chemistry to build silicon molecules from the ground up, rather than carving them down. This “bottom-up” approach gave them precise control<\/a> over how the atoms were arranged and, critically, control over the way electrons move through their silicon structures.<\/p>\n

Silicon is the second most abundant element in Earth’s crust and the workhorse of computing. But as devices shrink, unpredictable quantum effects, like electrons leaking across insulating barriers, make traditional designs harder to manage. This new study suggests that engineers might embrace, rather than fight, this quantum behavior.<\/p>\n

“Our work shows how molecular symmetry in silicon leads to interference effects that control how electrons move through it,” Su said. “And we can switch that interference on or off by controlling how electrodes align with our molecule.”<\/p>\n

While the idea of using quantum interference in electronics isn’t new, this is one of the first demonstrations of the effect in three-dimensional, diamond-like silicon\u2014the same structure used in commercial chips.<\/p>\n

Beyond ultra-small switches, the findings could aid in the development of thermoelectric devices that convert waste heat<\/a> into electricity, or even quantum computing components built from familiar materials.<\/p>\n

“This gives us a fundamentally new way to think about switching and charge transport,” Su said. “It’s not just a tweak. It’s a rethink of what silicon can do.”<\/p>\n

More information:<\/strong>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatthew O. Hight et al, Quantum Interference in a Molecular Analog of the Crystalline Silicon Unit Cell, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025). DOI: 10.1021\/jacs.5c04272<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProvided by
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUniversity of California – Riverside<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCitation<\/strong>:
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScientists find new way to control electricity at tiniest scale (2025, July 8)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 8 July 2025
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-07-scientists-electricity-tiniest-scale.html\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
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