An extraordinary new semiconductor: cubic boron arsenide

"Boron arsenide is a semiconductor with several interesting properties, including a high thermal conductivity. Theoretical calculations also suggest that it has high ambipolar mobility, a measure of the mobility of electrons and holes. Yue et al. and Shin et al. used different types of measurements to observe a high ambipolar mobility in very pure cubic boron arsenide. Shin et al. were able to simultaneously measure the high thermal and electrical transport properties in the same place in their samples. Yue et al. found even higher ambipolar mobility than the theoretical estimates at a few locations. Boron arsenide’s combination of transport properties could make it an attractive semiconductor for various applications"

Good news about next generation electronics! A possible gamechanger!

"... It is, the researchers say, the best semiconductor material ever found, and maybe the best possible one. ...
“The critical milestone that makes this discovery possible is advances in ultrafast laser grating systems at MIT,” ... Without that technique ... it would not have been possible to demonstrate the material’s high mobility for electrons and holes. ...
Not only is the material’s thermal conductivity the best of any semiconductor, the researchers say, it has the third-best thermal conductivity of any material — next to diamond and isotopically enriched cubic boron nitride. ...
many other properties of a material that have yet to be tested, such as its long-term stability ...
“one grand challenge would be how to produce and purify cubic boron arsenide as effectively as silicon. … Silicon took decades to win the crown, having purity of over 99.99999999 percent, or ‘10 nines’ for mass production today.” ..."

From the abstract:

"Semiconductors with high thermal conductivity and electron-hole mobility are of great importance for electronic and photonic devices as well as for fundamental studies. Among the ultrahigh–thermal conductivity materials, cubic boron arsenide (c-BAs) is predicted to exhibit simultaneously high electron and hole mobilities of >1000 centimeters squared per volt per second. Using the optical transient grating technique, we experimentally measured thermal conductivity of 1200 watts per meter per kelvin and ambipolar mobility of 1600 centimeters squared per volt per second at the same locations on c-BAs samples at room temperature despite spatial variations. Ab initio calculations show that lowering ionized and neutral impurity concentrations is key to achieving high mobility and high thermal conductivity, respectively. The high ambipolar mobilities combined with the ultrahigh thermal conductivity make c-BAs a promising candidate for next-generation electronics."

The best semiconductor of them all? | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Researchers have found a material that can perform much better than silicon. The next step is finding practical and economic ways to make it.

High ambipolar mobility in cubic boron arsenide (no public access)