Source/Type: CompoundSemi Online -- Compound Semiconductor Supply Chain News - Reported News

Argonne National Laboratory Researchers Create 'Super Insulator'
Author: CompoundSemi News Staff

April 14, 2008... Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois USA, discovered that a thin film of titanium nitride cooled to near absolute zero is not a superconductor, a conductor, or a semiconductor, it is a “Super Insulator.” The researchers have suggested that such materials may be used in applications such as: accelerators, magnetic-levitation (maglev) trains, MRI machines, and other specialty circuits, sensors, and battery shields. Argonne senior scientist Valerii Vinokur explained, "If you pass a current through a superconductor, then it will carry the current forever; conversely, if you have a superinsulator, then it will hold a charge forever." Vinokur indicated that if a regular battery is exposed to the air, its power will eventually drain into the air in days or weeks because air is not a perfect insulator.

When cooled titanium nitride’s electrons join together into something called Cooper pairs. In super insulators the Cooper pairs form forming self-locking roadblocks. In superconductors, they form long chains that enable the unrestricted flow of electrons. "In superinsulators, Cooper pairs avoid each other, creating enormous electric forces that oppose penetration of the current into the material," Vinokur said. "It's exactly the opposite of the superconductor," he added. The researchers findings appear in the April 3, 2008 issue of Nature.Company News Release

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