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Rubiks443 t1_it3dome wrote

My friend is getting his PhD in chemical engineering and they are literally working on what will replace silicone. Theoretically if we made a chip out of this terazulene rather than silicone it would be more than one million times faster and more efficient. He is the second person in the world to create the molecule! However, the research takes time let alone the research to implement it into semiconductors, but it’s cool to see the future. https://barybingroup.ku.edu

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wilcroft t1_it3gbif wrote

Just to FYI: Silicon = semiconductor metal, Silicone (with an “e”) is the rubber your spatula is made from.

Also, with no disrespect to your friend’s work, we already have many materials we could use over Silicon, but silicon is cheap, abundant, and relatively easy to refine. Many of the other materials aren’t, so even if they’re faster or more power efficient they’ll never see the light of day because they’re economically infeasible.

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pinkfootthegoose t1_itigayl wrote

they will switch to silicone carbide transistors before this because the industry and tools are already in place for silicon.

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