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Technology

Liquid metal particles can self-assemble into electronics

A cheap method for forming the tiny components of chips, such as transistors and diodes, harnesses simple fluid physics to make the electronics self-assembling

By Jeremy Hsu

16 December 2024

A crosshatch pattern of wires created by self-assembling liquid metal particles

Julia Chang / North Carolina State University

Self-assembling electronics made from liquid metal particles could provide a cheaper way of manufacturing computer chips, simply by harnessing the basic physics of how fluids flow through tiny structures.

“The cost of entry in manufacturing electronics and building new chip fabrication plants in the US right now, we’re talking billions of dollars,” says Martin Thuo at North Carolina State University. “It’s not cheap.”

Thuo and his colleagues first created a mixture of…

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