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Tech Smoothes Way to Cheaper Electronics

Eric Bland, Discovery News

Once the metal is removed, the silicon template can be reused up to 30 times, enabling the creation of identical devices. Because the silicon template can be molded to virtually any shape, this technique could have a wide range of applications.

For example, tiny pyramids created using this technique could focus beams of optical light onto a single point much smaller than any magnifying glass could manage. For scientists to take a picture of something tiny, they have to use a wavelength of light that is smaller than the object they are trying to image.

Focusing light onto such a small area could enable scientists to see, for example, even a single cancer marker in a blood sample. In general, the earlier cancer is detected the greater the chance that a person will survive.

Another possible application for this technique is in the production solar cells. Many solar panels spread relatively inefficient, but cheap solar cells over a large area. Gathering light and focusing it at one particular point filled with more expensive, but more efficient solar cells could help raise the amount of power gathered from the sun.

Patterning tiny optical structures could help lead to optical, instead of electrical, computing as well. Using light waves instead of electrons means computer chips would be smaller, faster and hold more data than electron-based chips, says Teri Odom of Northwestern University.

All of these are potential applications will have to try this new manufacturing technique individually to ensure that it works, but scientists are excited by the myriad possibilities.

The initial costs of etching the silicon will remain high, says Odom. However, since the templates can be used over and over again, they should lower costs for all of these fields.

Henri Lezec, a researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who is familiar with the work, agrees with Odom.

"This technique will lead to devices of higher quality that are easier to fabricate and can enable large area fabrication, said Lezec. "This is a very practical piece of work that could benefit a large number of research communities."

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