New Lead Substitute

Lead used in the fabrication of a certain time of computer memories can be environmentally toxic. A study in today's issue of the journal Science discusses a possible substitute.

The lead is used for a type of RAM (or random access memory) known as FeRAM.

In the new research, University of Wisconsin in Madison scientist Kyoung Jin Choi and colleagues used barium titanate, a chemical already known to semiconductor fabrication. However, to make this material suitable for use in FeRAM, its ferroelectric properties needed to be enhanced.

The authors used strain engineering, in which the spacing of the atoms in a substrate, or base substance, differs from those in the material deposited on top.

The image is a computer simulation of the stuff's structure.

-- LiveScience Staff

Image © Science