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IMAGE: Fig.2 Electron dynamics around a misoriented molecular defect. (a) STM image and snapshots obtained over an area including the defect indicated by the white arrow. Snapshots clearly show that electrons. view more
Credit: University of Tsukuba
Tsukuba, Japan - A team of researchers from the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences at the University of Tsukuba filmed the ultrafast motion of electrons with sub-nanoscale spatial resolution. This work provides a powerful tool for studying the operation of semiconductor devices, which can lead to more efficient electronic devices.
The ability to construct ever smaller and faster smartphones and computer chips depends on the ability of semiconductor manufacturers to understand how the electrons that carry information are affected by defects. However, these motions occur on the scale of trillionths of a second, and they can only be seen with a microscope that can image individual atoms. It may seem like an imposs