MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: MIT demonstrates magnetic transistor with 10x stronger switching a

📌 MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: MIT demonstrates magnetic transistor with 10x stronger s

MIT engineers have developed a magnetic transistor that could pave the way for smaller, faster, and more efficient electronics.

By replacing silicon with a magnetic semiconductor, the team created a device that not only switches current but can also store information.

Transistors form the foundation of all modern electronics. Built from silicon, they regulate electrical current or amplify weak signals.

But silicon has a built-in physical limit: it cannot operate below a certain voltage. That ceiling blocks further gains in efficiency.

To overcome this, researchers have long looked at spintronics, which uses electron spin as well as charge.

Magnetism offers a pathway, but most magnetic materials lack the right electronic qualities to compete with silicon.

“In this work, we combine magnetism and semiconductor physics to realize useful spintronic devices,” said Luqiao Liu, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS).

The MIT team turned to chromium sulfur bromide, a two-dimensional material that acts as a magnetic semiconductor.

Its structure allows researchers to switch between two magnetic states with precision.

That switching alters its electronic behavior and makes low-energy operation possible. Unlike many other 2D materials, it remains stable in air.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was finding the right material. We tried many other materials that didn’t work,” said graduate student Chung-Tao Chou, co-lead author of the paper.

Cleaner process, stronger signal

To build their device, engineers patterned electrodes on a silicon substrate and transferred the thin magnetic material on top.

Instead of using solvents or glue, they picked up the film with tape and placed it directly.

“A lot of researchers will use solvents or glue to do the transfer, but transistors require a very clean surface. We eliminate all those risks by simplifying this step,” Chou said.

The clean interface boosted performance. While most magnetic transistors only shift current by a few percent, the MIT device changes it by a factor of ten.

That stronger switching also enables faster, more reliable readouts.

The researchers initially toggled the magnetic state with an external magnetic field, using far less energy than a typical silicon transistor requires.

They also showed that electrical currents can control the state, a vital step for practical electronics. Engineers cannot rely on external magnets for every transistor on a chip.

Logic with built-in memory

The unique magnetic properties mean the transistor can also store information. Conventional memory devices use separate magnetic cells and transistors. The new design merges both.

“Now, not only are transistors turning on and off, they are also remembering information. And because we can switch the transistor with greater magnitude, the signal is much stronger so we can read out the information faster, and in a much more reliable way,” Liu said.

Chou emphasized the broader promise of merging magnetism with electronics.

“People have known about magnets for thousands of years, but there are very limited ways to incorporate magnetism into electronics. We have shown a new way to efficiently utilize magnetism that opens up a lot of possibilities for future applications and research,” he said.

The team now plans to refine electrical switching and explore scalable manufacturing for arrays of devices.

The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com

📌 MAROKO133 Update ai: Can glass replace bone? Scientists 3D print bio-glass that

No one thinks of glass as a replacement for bone.

But researchers in China have developed a 3D printable bio-active glass that edges closer to the bone’s resilience.

In animal tests, it supported bone cell growth longer than plain glass and nearly matched a leading dental implant material.

Both glass and bone share a key trait thanks to their molecular structures. They resist compression better than stretching.

Silica is the main ingredient in glass, which can exist in liquid form and be shaped freely.

This quality opens the door to creating implants that can be crafted to fit damaged sections of the bones perfectly.

While glass has potential, perfecting the printing process has been a hurdle.

Conventional glass 3D printing requires toxic plasticizers and extreme heat above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, limiting its use in medicine, where safety and cost are essential factors.

Researchers led by Jianru Xiao, Tao Chen, and Huanan Wang sought a cleaner path.

They combined oppositely charged silica particles with calcium and phosphate ions, both known to trigger cell formation. This mixture formed a printable gel that could be hardened at 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Testing the new bio-glass

The team compared their new bio-glass, plain silica glass, and a commercial dental bone substitute in the rabbit skull repair.

While the commercial product spurred faster early growth, the bio-glass proved more durable. After eight weeks, most bone cells had attached to the bio-glass scaffold, and the plain glass showed little to no growth.

The researchers have now reported that their material sustained bone growth longer than existing options. They described their work as a step forward in affordable and customizable bone substitutes with applications far beyond dentistry.

“Green” printing strategy

Beyond the medical results, the team highlighted the technical breakthrough behind their approach. They explained that most ceramic or glass 3D printing depends on organic plasticizers and high-temperature sintering.

These steps add cost and time, reduce bioactivity, and can even introduce toxic effects.

Their method sidesteps those issues by using inorganic self-healing colloidal gels made from silica-based nanospheres that attract each other electrostatically.

This allowed them to 3D print strong glass structures without additives and finish them at relatively low heat through a process known as low-temperature sintering.

The resulting gels showed a compressive modulus of about 2.3 MPa, which is strong enough for use as bone scaffolds.

They also retained their ability to self-heal, giving the material better printability and shape control. After sintering at 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit, the printed structures held their form, stayed bioactive, and supported new bone growth in tests.

The researchers see wide potential.

“This ‘green’ inorganic 3D-printing strategy enabled cost-efficient and bioactivity-preserved fabrication of bioglass-based bone substitutes, which led to improved in vivo osteogenesis and osteointegrity,” they wrote.

They added that the method could extend to industries from machinery to energy.

The study is published in the journal ACS Nano.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com