At first blush, it seems there would be little connection between these fields. That’s because most people picture wet chemistry when they think of this science. That term describes traditional laboratory techniques, which call for liquid-based experiments. We all know that liquids and electronics don’t mix. For those exploring this field more deeply, whether through self-study or with a private chemistry tutor, it becomes clear that today’s chemical science extends far beyond this narrow view.
In the current environment, the tech sector needs chemistry as much as chemistry relies on tech. Where and how modern computing depends on chemical compositions represents technology’s greatest evolutions. Here, we explore those frontiers.
Quantum Computing
News headlines proclaim the global rush for nations to secure their share of minerals and rare earths. These elements are vital to tech manufacturing, in general, and building more powerful computing systems. They are also a key component of energy storage. Advanced battery technologies help power and secure continuous operation of powerful, critical, computing systems.
Mining engineers lay out and oversee those materials’ extraction operations, but refining them depends entirely on chemistry. Chemical engineers design the processes that turn those raw materials into substances tech engineers can use.
Nanochemistry is a growing field which feeds the quantum environment. Standard nanoengineering starts with raw materials and drills them down to required specifications. Nanochemistry, by contrast, begins at the atomic level, and ‘builds up’ to the desired material quality. This efficient process delivers controlled surface functionality suitable for many tech applications, and it relies wholly on chemistry.
Fiber-optics
Fiber-optic history stretches back 180 years, when a Swiss physicist joined forces with a French scientist. Together, they demonstrated how refraction could guide light. That is fiber-optics’ fundamental principle. However, those pioneers’ work found little practical use, at the time. Such remained the case until 1983, when Thomas Mensah, a chemical engineer, established a way to speed up the fibers’ manufacture.
Thanks to the chemically streamlined process, fiber-optics were more affordable than ever. Optical fiber soon became more cost-effective than metal wires. Suddenly, tech engineers could apply fiber-optic solutions to all the technological hurdles they faced. Furthermore, they established new uses for fiber-optic communication. These fibers make high-speed data transmission over long distances possible.
The science behind fiber-optic production is called chemical vapor deposition (CVD). It entails exposing a substrate – a base material, to a volatile chemical reaction, to produce a desired coating or deposit. Modified chemical vapor depositions (MCVDs) further refine the fibers into usable components for specific applications. CVD is also the process used to manufacture semiconductors.
Semiconductors
What would our world be like without semiconductors? Forget advanced computing, portable and wearable technology, and electric vehicles. Medical devices would be as they were 30 or 40 years ago. We’d have digital nothing, including the internet as we know it today.
For those of us ‘experienced’ enough to remember dial-up internet, a world without semiconductors would be akin to a reversion to the Stone Age. Forget watching the big game on your high-definition plasma TV. You’ll have to wait for the vacuum tubes to heat up enough to capture and translate signals, and project them onto your bulky, cathode-ray tube monitor.
Without semiconductors, we would live in an analog world. The only science sparing us from that archaic existence is chemistry.
As noted above, CVD is the first step to producing these crucial tech components. CVD has many formats, each with an exotic-sounding name to reflect the science behind it. For instance, Combustion Chemical Vapor Disposition, also called flame pyrolysis, involves using fire to deposit nanomaterials on semiconductor wafers.
You might know what such a wafer looks like. They’re essentially flat discs of semiconductor material, with microelectronics built in (or etched on its surface). Turning crystalline silicon – a standard semiconductor material, into usable wafers, itself entails chemical processes.
Of course, not all semiconductors are silicon based. Compound semiconductors Gallium arsenide chips have a zinc blende structure, and silicon carbide is for semiconductors used in high temperature, high voltage applications.
You don’t need to be tech-savvy to realize the degree that chemistry underpins, and even drives tech development. Reading about semiconductors, their materials and how the wafers are made, introduces us to a whole lexicon of chemical concepts. And yet, we’ve not traced all the links between chemistry and technology.
Micro-electromechanical Systems
These systems, more commonly called MEMS, make everything from gaming consoles to wearable/portable tech possible. As their name suggests, MEMS are tiny, electro-mechanical components that function somewhat like a switch. For instance, car airbag circuitry typically includes a MEMS. In this instance, it functions as an accelerometer, a device that ensures the airbag will deploy at proper speed.
We find MEMS throughout our transportation networks. Helicopters have MEMS gyroscopes to make sure they fly level, and MEMS regulate inertial navigation systems on airplanes (autopilot) and boats. If your car has a Lane Departure Warning system that beeps at you if you cross a dashed or solid line, you’ve experienced MEMS at work.
Once again, we find chemistry at the root of this technology. Like semiconductors, MEMS production starts with a CVD treatment. Once the desired surface is achieved, MEMS are etched to remove selected surface material. Both etching processes, dry and wet, involve chemical usage.
These are just four chemistry applications in the tech field. We could go on, describing how vital chemistry is to materials science, and how that science advances the tech sector, for instance. Still, from these examples, you get an idea of the two fields’ intimate relationship.
A career in either industry – tech or chemical, assures professional stability. As mentioned earlier, who wants to go back to the Analog Age? But, you don’t have to study chemistry to work in the tech sector, depending on the work you want to do.
However, mastering chemical concepts ensures your place in the higher ranks of tech development. With this knowledge, it might be you designing semiconductors, instead of merely installing them.
