Until now the material, made by combining the chemical elements germanium and tin, was thought to be near-impossible to make, although research had suggested that the germanium-tin alloy could in theory act as an effective semiconductor for absorbing and emitting light more effectively than silicon semiconductors, facilitating the conversion of light into electrical energy, and vice-versa.
The difficulty in manufacturing the material is partly because the elements do not chemically react with each other under normal conditions.
Now, a team led by Edinburgh researchers has created a single material enabling a new class of germanium-tin ICs,
The team heated mixtures of germanium and tin to more than 1,200°C, while applying pressures of up to 10 gigapascals.
The process produces stable germanium-tin alloys at room temperature and pressure.
An open access version of the paper is available here: https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/high-pressure-and-compositionally-directed-route-to-a-hexagonal-g/.
