FASTER electronic circuits could be made out of doped-up buckyballs. Crystals
of these soccer-ball-shaped molecules of carbon normally become superconducting
only when cooled to a frigid 鈥�221 掳C. Their total lack of resistance
to electric current makes them an ideal material for high-tech electronic
circuits, but it鈥檚 impracticable to keep them that cold.
Now Hendrik Sch枚n and colleagues at Bell Lab鈥檚 Lucent Technologies in
New Jersey have upped the superconducting temperature to a more convenient
鈥�156 掳C by sticking organic molecules containing chlorine and bromine
into the crystal lattice. The impurities introduced by this doping create more
space for the current-carrying electrons, the team will report in Science.
鈥淲e even think this will work up to 150 kelvin,鈥� says Sch枚n.
That鈥檚 a balmy 鈥�123 掳C.