RALEGH – A new form of silicon called Q-silicon has been discovered by researchers at North Carolina State University. This distinct form of silicon exhibits ferromagnetic properties at room temperature, which could potentially lead to advancements in quantum computing. One possible application is the creation of a spin qubit quantum computer that relies on controlling the spin of an electron.
According to Jay Narayan, the John C. Fan Family Distinguished Chair in Materials Science and the corresponding author of a paper detailing the research, the discovery of Q-silicon with robust room temperature ferromagnetism could pave the way for new developments in atomic-scale, spin-based devices and their integration with nanoelectronics.
Traditionally, materials with ferromagnetic properties were limited to transition metals and rare earths. However, Q-silicon challenges this notion as it demonstrates ferromagnetism despite being composed of even numbers of electrons like carbon and silicon. The research team at NC State showed that laser melting and quenching silicon can result in the formation of Q-silicon, a process that takes less than a fraction of a microsecond to complete.
In addition to ferromagnetism, Q-silicon also exhibits enhanced hardness and superconductivity, making it a versatile material for various applications. Narayan envisions that Q-silicon could revolutionize modern microelectronics by enabling spintronics and spin-based quantum computing, which utilize the spin of electrons for faster and more energy-efficient computing.
The study detailing the discovery of Q-silicon has been published in Materials Research Letters. Co-authors of the paper include Roger Narayan, Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at NC State, along with graduate students Siba Sahoo and Naveen Joshi from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Funding for the research was provided by the National Science Foundation, and NC State has filed for a U.S. patent on the Q-silicon discovery.
(C) NCSU
