Technocrat

Alternative To Silicon Chip Invented By Student

Uncle Entity
Tue May 13 16:50:51 -0700 2008
Electronics

ScienceDaily (2008-05-13) -- Even before Weixiao Huang received his doctorate, his new transistor captured the attention of some of the biggest American and Japanese automobile companies. The 2008 graduate's invention could replace one of the most common pieces of technology in the world -- the silicon transistor for high-power and high-temperature electronics.

The lazy man's story submission via the 'blog' link on the site...

 
Alternative To Silicon Chip Invented By Student
Timothy Brownawell
Wed May 14 13:07:30 -0700 2008
Hm, they're using Gallium Nitride instead. Sounds familiar, is that one of the semiconductors used in LEDs?
  
Alternative To Silicon Chip Invented By Student
Mathinker
Wed May 14 22:53:12 -0700 2008

Yup, blue LEDs.

One problem which might arise is that gallium is (based on estimates from www.webelements.com) about 15000x less abundant than silicon in the earth's crust and 33000x less abundant in sea water. It is mainly found as a contaminant of other ores (and sometimes coal). Pure gallium metal was priced around 400-600 USD/kg  in 2005-2006.

It's not clear the price of raw gallium metal has a strong relation to the price of electronics, however, since purifying it and processing it is probably a much larger proportion of the final cost. Can someone out there with harder facts and more experience enlighten us?

  
 

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