The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) warns that the economic impact will be significant, affecting industries that rely on GaN-based chips.
The team made their discovery thanks to a clever use of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Using this technology, they observed atomic-scale dislocations for the first time.
They discovered that “tuning the Fermi level” (adjusting the energy levels of electrons) can control the climbing process and reduce defects. This “Fermi energy level” can be likened to the “water level” of the electronic world.