Air‑stable 2D superconductors and nanoscale ferroelectrics boost next‑gen electronic devices

Scientists have created air‑stable, ultrathin two‑dimensional superconductors using encapsulation epitaxy, a technique that protects the material from degradation and enables more compact, scalable quantum circuits.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discovered that ferroelectricity can persist in oxide layers only a few nanometers thick, including hafnium oxide and titanium dioxide. This nanoscale ferroelectric behavior allows memory and logic devices to switch at much lower voltages, offering a path to energy‑efficient microelectronics. Both breakthroughs overturn the prior belief that such functional properties disappear when materials are thinned to the atomic scale, opening new opportunities for quantum computing and low‑power electronic hardware.