Metal oxide chips show promise

摘要

The switches in most electronic circuits are made of silicon, one of the commonest elements. But their successors might contain materials that, for now, are lab-grown oddities: strongly correlated metal oxides. The allure of these materials lies in the outer shells of electrons surrounding their metal atoms. The shells are incomplete, leaving the electrons free to participate in coordinated quantum-mechanical behaviour. In some materials, electrons pair up to produce superconductivity, or coordinate their spins to produce magnetism. Other materials can switch from being an insulator to a conductor.