Recently, engineers at the University of California San Diego used metamaterials to develop the world's first semiconductor-free light-control microelectronic device that is excited by low-voltage, low-power lasers only , Compared with the traditional conductive properties increased by 10 times. The technology is conducive to the manufacture of faster, more powerful microelectronic devices, and is expected to create more efficient solar panels. The study was published in the November 4 issue of the international journal Nature Communications. No semiconductor electronic devices. Credit: UCSan Diego Applied Electromagnetics Group Existing conventional microelectronic devices, such as transistors, etc., ultimately suffer from the performance limitations of their constituent materials. For example, the nature of the semiconductor itself limits the conductivity or electron flow of the device. Because semiconductors have a so-called band gap, this means that a certain amount of external energy needs to be applied to induce the electrons to jump through the band gap. In addition, the electron speed is also limited, because when electrons pass through the semiconductor, they always collide with atoms inside the semiconductor. The Applied Electromagnetics Group, led by Dan Sievenpiper, professor of electrical engineering at UC San Diego, explored ways to replace semiconductors with space-free electronics to overcome the limitations of traditional electronics. Ebrahim Forati, the lead author of the study, said: "And we want to make it happen microscopically."