World's First Wood Transistor Chops Out at 1 Hz

[RV_]

Who'da thunk huh?

Excerpt:

"How Wood Turned Into a Transistor

To describe how wood can be used to make a transistor, let us start by looking at conventional transistors that are widely used in electronic devices. Field effect transistors are a key building block of modern electronics and most commonly fabricated from semiconductors like silicon or germanium. 

The inherent nature of these elements allow a transistor to act as an amplifier or switch when a voltage or current is applied to its terminals. Since the first FETs were produced in the mid-20th Century, R&D has been continuous in miniaturizing them and coaxing them to run at extraordinary frequencies.

 

 

 

To create the WECT, the researchers required conductive wood (CW). This is made by removing the lignin from wood via a chemical solvent process. Subsequently the channels where lignin were present are replaced with a mixed electron-ion conducting polymer. In this project the chosen wood was Balsa (for its desirable inner channel structure) and conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS. To construct the WECT, three pieces of CW were used: one piece as the central transistor channel, and one each as top and bottom gate.

The WECT transistor is remarkable, even though it doesn’t have the kinds of specs we usually discuss on Tom’s Hardware. Rather than being an end in itself, the researchers say they provided evidence of the wood transistor’s possibilities, and hope that they will inspire future work and applications."

Source: Tom's Hardware

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/world-s-first-wood-transistor-chops-out-at-1-hz/ar-AA1axfy2?OCID=ansmsnnews11