A Common Semiconductor Just Became a Superconductor

Summary

For decades, researchers have tried to create semiconductor materials that can also act as superconductors -- materials capable of carrying electric current without resistance. Semiconductors, which form the foundation of modern computer chips and solar cells, could operate far faster and more efficiently if they also possessed superconducting abilities. Yet turning materials like silicon and germanium into superconductors has remained a major challenge, largely because it requires maintaining a delicate atomic arrangement that allows electrons to move freely. A global team of scientists has now achieved what once seemed out of reach. In a new study published in Nature Nanotechnology, they report creating a form of germanium that exhibits superconductivity. This means it can conduct electricity with zero resistance, allowing electric currents to circulate endlessly without losing energy. Such behavior could dramatically boost the performance of electronic and quantum devices while reducing power consumption. "Establishing superconductivity in germanium, which is already widely used in computer chips and fiber optics, can potentially revolutionize scores of consumer products and industrial technologies," explains Javad Shabani, a physicist at New York University and director of its Center of Quantum Information Physics and Quantum Institute. Peter Jacobson, a physicist at the University of Queensland, adds that the findings could accelerate progress in building practical quantum systems. "These materials could underpin future quantum circuits, sensors, and low-power cryogenic electronics, all of which need clean interfaces between superconducting and semiconducting regions," he says. "Germanium is already a workhorse material for advanced semiconductor technologies, so by showing it can also become superconducting under controlled growth conditions there's now potential for scalable, foundry-ready quantum devices." How Semiconductors Become Superconductors Germanium ...