💡 Scientists Made a Semiconductor That Can Be Reprogrammed With Light

Most computer chips are born with a fixed job. Once a semiconductor is fabricated, its electrical properties are largely locked in.

Researchers at Princeton have now created an ultrathin semiconductor — only a few molecules thick — that can repeatedly change how it conducts electricity in response to different wavelengths of light. The effect is reversible, meaning the material can be programmed, erased and programmed again.

The team achieved this by combining a two-dimensional semiconductor with light-sensitive molecules that physically change shape when illuminated. Those molecular changes alter the semiconductor’s electronic and optical behavior. And unlike a simple binary switch, the response can be adjusted gradually rather than just flipped between “0” and “1.”

The researchers have already produced uniform samples about one inch across and built arrays of programmable electronic switches. Their next goal is to connect them into functioning circuits.

The broader idea is striking: instead of manufacturing a chip for one fixed purpose, future electronics might be able to change their own physical behavior after they are built.

Software is already reprogrammable.

Now the hardware itself is starting to learn the trick.

#Semiconductors #Computing #MaterialsScience #Photonics #Technology #Science

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aee1510