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Nature 430, 620-621 (5 August 2004) | doi:10.1038/430620a; Published online 4 August 2004

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Semiconductor physics:  The value of seeing nothing

Jochen Mannhart1 & Darrell G. Schlom2

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Adding atoms to a semiconductor can improve its electronic properties. In an oxide, taking atoms away can have a similar electronic effect — one that could, it seems, be exploited in device applications.

By 2007, the information age will have hit a fundamental roadblock. Without major changes in technology, the spectacular improvements in computer performance that we have enjoyed for decades will cease, because transistors based on silicon and silicon dioxide will no longer be able to keep up with Gordon Moore's famous law1, 2 — that the number of transistors per unit area in an integrated circuit doubles every couple of years.

  1. Jochen Mannhart is at the Centre for Electronic Correlations and Magnetism, Institute of Physics, University of Augsburg, D-86135 Augsburg, Germany.
    e-mail: Email: jochen.mannhart@physik.uni-augsburg.de
  2. Darrell G. Schlom is in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-5005, USA.
    e-mail: Email: schlom@ems.psu.edu

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