Self-assembling electronics made from liquid metal particles could provide a cheaper way of manufacturing computer chips, simply by harnessing the basic physics of how fluids flow through tiny structures.
“The cost of entry in manufacturing electronics and building new chip fabrication plants in the US right now, we’re talking billions of dollars,” says Martin Thuo at North Carolina State University. “It’s not cheap.”
Thuo and his colleagues first created a mixture of carbon, oxygen and metallic atoms by using an organic solution to extract charged ions from an alloy of indium, bismuth and tin. This fluid then flowed into moulds made up of tiny channels arranged in patterns. The molecules took on the shape and size of each mould, forming complex 3D structures.
*Photo credit: A crosshatch pattern of wires created by self-assembling liquid metal particles Julia Chang / North Carolina State University