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Nature 439, 671-673 (9 February 2006) | doi:10.1038/439671a; Published online 8 February 2006

Semiconductor physics: Transport news

John J. Boland1

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Conventionally, conduction in silicon is enhanced by doping — adding impurities that change the material's electronic structure. But exploiting surface effects in thin silicon films may offer yet other opportunities.

Silicon-based electronics continues to obey the dictum known as Moore's law: that the density of transistors on an integrated circuit — a rough measure of the attainable processing power — doubles about every 18 months. As the size of the smallest features of a device approaches the nanoscale, the electronic properties of the constituent materials are increasingly affected by the surrounding surfaces and interfaces.

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