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News Researchers point to boron arsenide for cooler electronics

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by bit-tech, 6 Jul 2018.

  1. bit-tech

    bit-tech Supreme Overlord Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    Read more
     
  2. Chicken76

    Chicken76 Minimodder

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    Shouldn't there be a name after 'by'?
     
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    No, there shouldn't be a "by" at all: I was originally going to write "by the Naval Research Laboratory," then changed my mind to "from the Naval Research Laboratory," but apparently never got rid of "by". I'll go fix, ta!
     
  4. MLyons

    MLyons 70% Dev, 30% Doge. DevDoge. Software Dev @ Corsair Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    glad it was pointed out that it's an artificial problem that causes high prices.
     
  5. Flibblebot

    Flibblebot Smile with me

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    Surely no more toxic than the gallium arsenide or indium arsenide semiconductors already in use?
     
  6. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Exactly: once the arsenic is locked away, it's safe as houses.
     
  7. edzieba

    edzieba Virtual Realist

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    Likely they will encounter the same issues as with Gallium Arsenide, Indium Gallium Arsenide, Indium Antimonide, Gallium Selenide, Gallium Nitride, Silicon Carbide, Germanium, and so on: high gate leakages, so high power 'wastage'. Not just mobile devices like phones, but every device nowadays - from desktop CPUs to massive HPC clusters - is power-limited (or thermally limited, which due to physics is effectively the same thing).
    There are a few cases where "damn the leakage, we need that power output at extreme frequencies!" wins over, like in the power amplifiers for mobile phones (GaS/GaN), which is why they guzzle so much power when actively transmitting.
     
  8. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Even if we give the new thing the benefit of the doubt and assume it is indeed a huge improvement over the old thing there is zero reason to assume the new thing won't be pushed to the limit and there are no free lunches in the laws of physics.
    So yep, running into the same issues is inevitable.
     
  9. Fizzban

    Fizzban Man of Many Typos

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    This also falls into the same pit as many new discoveries. They don't yet know how to make the materials in the quantities required for large scale production. So while impressive, it may never actually reach a consumer level.
     
  10. Paradigm Shifter

    Paradigm Shifter de nihilo nihil fit

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    Yup. Scaling up is always a killer...

    It might see the light of day "soonish" in special kit, but for average consumers? Not a chance.
     
  11. hyperion

    hyperion Minimodder

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    @Gareth Halfacree Your article was referenced on yesterday's Gamer's Nexus news video at 12:50
     
    Anfield, Gareth Halfacree and MLyons like this.
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