Copper is a much sought (and much stolen) metal because it powers the proliferation of data centers, electric vehicles, and energy infrastructure.
Copper also forms interconnects, the wires that transfer electricity between the semiconducting transistors that form the basic building blocks of electronic chips.
Incredibly, a state-of-the-art chip can contain over 100 kilometers (62 miles) in copper interconnects.
But copper may be becoming insufficient.
As copper interconnects continue to shrink, they choke electron flow as these fundamental particles are increasingly scattered by the surfaces of the wires.
This is called the resistivity size effect. It occurs as surface area becomes much larger relative to volume, and the resulting microscopic mosh pit increases resistance and signal delays. Meanwhile, rising current densities can also damage interconnects and reduce their reliability.
But now, physicists have demonstrated the superiority of a counterintuitive copper replacement: a nanoscale material made from cobalt and silicon.
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