Microelectronics is the creation of very tiny electrical circuits --
finer than a human hair. These circuits run everything, from computers to
phones. Most are made out of silicon, a very strong and rigid crystal which
can be sliced as thin as a wafer.
By adding impurities to silicon -- they can turn an insulating material into
a semi-conducting one and make "semiconductors." Scientists at the MIT
Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Mass., are finding ways to make
microelectronics -- faster, smaller, and less expensive.
"We do a lot of new-idea creation, brainstorming, and we talk a lot --
even at lunch -- about new ideas that might be really interesting and
a big benefit," says electrical engineer Jeremy Muldavin.