World’s First Recyclable Silicon Transistor Developed

Engineers at Duke University have finished their work on the world’s first recyclable silicon transistor. With this new component, the damage caused by digital waste to nature can be greatly reduced.

As if the waste produced by humans in daily life is not a problem, with the increasing use of electronic devices, digital waste has become a threat to the world. In order to minimize the impact of unused or degraded electronic devices on the environment, it is much more beneficial to recycle them instead of throwing them away, but unfortunately we cannot say the same thing for silicon chips, while aluminum and copper residues in the devices can be recycled. Considering that tons of digital waste is generated every year in the world, it has become a necessity to recycle so many silicon chips somehow. The world’s first recyclable silicon transistor emerged just as an answer to this necessity.

According to a study by the United Nations, only a quarter of the million-dollar electronic parts left for recycling within a year can be recycled. In addition, as the world has begun to focus on the new 5G technology, digital transformation will continue to accelerate and the digital waste problem will become more difficult to solve day by day. At this point, a working group of engineers at Duke University conducted research for a sustainable solution to the ever-growing digital waste problem. As a result of the recently completed research, the world’s first recyclable silicon transistor was produced.

This highly complex transistor was developed using three carbon-based inks in the hope of inspiring technologies that could tackle the future environmental problem of electronic waste. In a statement made by Aaron Franklin, the lead researcher of the study, “The nanocellulose contained in this transistor we produce is easily biodegradable and has been used in package packages for years. The innovation we made here as the team was to use nanocellulose in a carbon-based printable ink. We know that no one has attempted such a process before, and one of the functional ways to make electronic devices fully recyclable is the results of our work. ” gave place to his words.

Nature-Friendly Transistors May Be Adopted In The Future

While the researchers acknowledge that silicon-based computer components will not disappear anytime soon, they think that fully recyclable, easily manufactured, eco-friendly electronics will become mainstream in a few years. With the low costs, the use of chips from these transistors is likely to expand, but it is obvious that this will take a long time.

To briefly summarize the technical detail of the subject, engineers have discovered a method of incorporating nanocellulose into a printable transistor ink by reducing it to a crystalline form. Nanocellulose is an easily biodegradable compound found as an insulator in most electronic devices. But the real thing here is that the nanocellulose compound is incorporated into the ink used to produce transducers. Team; He was able to produce transistors by using three carbon-based nanocellulose inks with an aerosol jet printer in a room temperature environment. At the end of long-term tests, it was observed that the transistors provided the desired performance. The researchers also stated that the produced transistor can be 100% recycled after various processes.

It is clear that the half-trillion dollar semiconductor industry will not suddenly use recyclable silicon transistors. Although this work is a step towards the future, it can be considered a good development to protect the environment from digital waste to a large extent.