Entries with tag semiconductors.

US scientists are using genetic engineering to create silica-forming proteins that generate solid-state materials for use in semiconductors and other electronic components. Traditional methods for triggering marine sponges to produce these proteins can actually kill the cells. The researchers thus used synthetic cells with a tiny plastic-bead nucleus, surrounded by a bubble of oil that mimics a cell membrane. They attached a piece of DNA encoded with a silica-forming protein to each bead, then added other substances to create the artificial cell. This triggered the proteins to make either silicon dioxide or titanium dioxide, both of which made dispersed nanoparticles containing these metal oxides. The researchers, led by University of California at Santa Barbara professor Emeritus Daniel E. Morse, say their protein, named silicatein X1, could make folded sheets of silica-protein fibers. They published their work in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Ars Technica)(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)