Julia Hsu and Lynn Loo originally noticed problems with Schön's paper describing the assembly of molecular transistors while attempting to patent research on lithography, realizing that Schön had duplicated figures. ![]() Soon after Schön published his work on single-molecule semiconductors, others in the physics community alleged that his data contained anomalies. However, while the equipment and materials used were common in laboratories all over the world, none succeeded in preparing aluminium oxide layers of similar quality to the ones claimed by Schön. Specifically, Schön claimed to use a thin layer of aluminium oxide which he incorporated into his transistors using lab facilities at the University of Konstanz. It also would have drastically reduced the cost of electronics.Ī key element in Schön's work claimed successful observation of various physical phenomena in organic materials was dependent on the transistor setup. It would have allowed transistors to continue shrinking past the point at which silicon breaks down, and therefore continue Moore's law for much longer than was then predicted. It would have been the beginning of a move away from silicon-based electronics and toward organic electronics. ![]() The implications of his work were significant. Schön claimed to have used a thin layer of organic dye molecules to assemble an electric circuit that, when acted on by an electric current, behaved as a transistor. In the same year, he announced in Nature that he had produced a transistor on the molecular scale. In 2001, he was listed as an author on an average of one newly published research paper every eight days. However, no research group anywhere in the world succeeded in reproducing the results claimed by Schön. The findings were published in prominent scientific publications, including the journals Science and Nature, and gained worldwide attention. His measurements in most cases confirmed various theoretical predictions, notably that the organic materials could be made to display superconductivity or be used in lasers. Schön, however, claimed spectacular ability in changing the conductivity of the organic materials, far beyond anything achieved thus far. In late 1997, he was hired by Bell Labs, where he worked on electronics in which conventional semiconducting elements (such as silicon) were replaced by crystalline organic (meaning carbon-based) materials. ![]() He received his PhD from the University of Konstanz in 1997. Schön's field of research was condensed matter physics and nanotechnology. The debate centered on whether peer review, traditionally designed to find errors and determine relevance and originality of articles, should also be required to detect deliberate fraud. The scandal provoked discussion in the scientific community about the degree of responsibility of coauthors and reviewers of scientific articles. Before he was exposed, Schön had received the Otto-Klung-Weberbank Prize for Physics and the Braunschweig Prize in 2001, as well as the Outstanding Young Investigator Award of the Materials Research Society in 2002, all of which were later rescinded. The Schön scandal concerns German physicist Jan Hendrik Schön (born August 1970 in Verden an der Aller, Lower Saxony, Germany) who briefly rose to prominence after a series of apparent breakthroughs with semiconductors that were later discovered to be fraudulent.
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