Nanowerk October 11, 2021 A team of researchers in the US (NIST, Pennsylvania State University) concentrated on the boundary, or channel, between the thin oxide layer and the bulk semiconductor body which controls the resistance of the device from source to drain. They used electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) to detect defects in the channel. To focus exclusively on activity in the channel, researchers use a technique called bipolar amplification effect (BAE). The parameter of importance is the interface defect density, which is a number that describes how many defects are within some area of the semiconductor-oxide interface. The BAE […]
Category Archives: Transistors
New optical ‘transistor’ speeds up computation up to 1,000 times, at lowest switching energy possible
Phys.org September 22, 2021 Based on light-matter coupling, an international team of researchers (Russia, Switzerland, Germany, UK) created an optical switch which in a proof-of-principle demonstration achieved switching with just one photon at room temperature. The switch could act as a component that links devices by shuttling data between them in the form of optical signals, and serve as an amplifier, boosting the intensity of an incoming laser beam by a factor of up to 23,000. The device relies on two lasers to set its state to “0” or “1” and to switch between them. The switching occurs inside a […]
Bound-charge engineering: A new strategy to develop nanowire transistors
Phys.org January 13, 2021 Low-dimensional materials can have a relatively small number of free charges and weak screening compared to 3-D materials. This screening is especially crucial for the development of tunnel field-effect transistors, which heavily rely on the quantum tunneling of electrons across junctions. By atomistic quantum transport simulations researchers in Canada show how bound charges can be engineered at interfaces of Si and low- oxides to strengthen screening. To avoid compromising gate control, low- and high- oxides are used in conjunction. They demonstrated that in Si nanowire tunnel field-effect transistors bound charge engineering increases the on-state current by […]
Intel’s Stacked Nanosheet Transistors Could Be the Next Step in Moore’s Law
IEEE Spectrum December 29, 2020 The logic circuits behind just about every digital device today rely on a pairing of NMOS and PMOS. Researchers at Intel showed a different way: stacking the pairs so that one is atop the other. The scheme effectively cut the footprint of a simple CMOS circuit in half, meaning a potential doubling of transistor density on future ICs. The main part of the transistor consisting of a vertical fin of silicon as it does today, the nanosheet’s channel region consists of multiple, horizontal, nanometers-thin sheets stacked atop one another. They built an inverter using these […]
Breakthrough quantum-dot transistors create a flexible alternative to conventional electronics
Science Daily October 29, 2020 So far, most research on quantum dot electronic devices has focused on materials based on Pb- and Cd chalcogenides. In addition to environmental concerns associated with the presence of toxic metals, these quantum dots are not well suited for applications in CMOS circuits due to difficulties in integrating complementary n- and p-channel transistors in a common quantum dot active layer. A team of researchers in the US (Los Alamos National Laboratory, UC Irvine) demonstrated that by using heavy-metal-free CuInSe2 quantum dots, they could address the problem of toxicity and simultaneously achieve straightforward integration of complimentary […]
Engineering team develops novel miniaturized organic semiconductor
Science Daily October 8, 2020 Organic Field Effect Transistors (OFETs) have the advantage of being flexible when compared with their inorganic counterparts like silicon. The main limitation on enhanced performance and mass production of OFETs lies in the difficulty in miniaturizing them. Products currently using OFETs in the market are still in their primitive forms, in terms of product flexibility and durability. The major problem now confronting scientists in reducing the size of OFETs is that the performance of the transistor will drop significantly with a reduction in size, partly due to the problem of contact resistance. Researchers in Hong […]
Physicists develop printable organic transistors
Nanowerk September 22, 2020 Conventional horizontal organic thin-film transistors are very slow due to the hopping-transport in organic semiconductors, so they cannot be used for applications requiring high frequencies. Researchers in Germany have developed powerful vertical organic transistors with two independent control electrodes characterized by a high switching frequency and an adjustable threshold voltage. With these developments even single transistors can be used to represent different logical states (AND, NOT, NAND). Furthermore, the adjustable threshold voltage ensures signal integrity and low power consumption. In the future, these transistors could make it possible to realize even sophisticated electronic functions such as […]
Artificial ‘neurotransistor’ created
Science Daily July 14, 2020 An international team of researchers (Germany, India, South Korea, USA – UC Berkeley) simulated the properties of neurons using the principles of biosensors and modified a classical field-effect transistor to create an artificial neurotransistor. They applied solgel to a conventional silicon wafer with circuits. When solgel hardens and becomes a porous ceramic the ions move between the holes. As they are heavier than electrons and slower to return to their position after excitation, hysteresis causes the storage effect. The plasticity of the neurotransistor, which is similar to that of the human brain, enables them to […]
Paper-thin gallium oxide transistor handles more than 8,000 volts
Science Daily May 29, 2020 To achieve passivation in gallium arsenide a team of researchers in the US (SUNY Buffalo, Stanford University) added a layer of SU-8, an epoxy-based polymer commonly used in microelectronics. In tests the transistor could handle 8,032 volts before breaking down, which is more than similarly designed transistors made of silicon carbide or gallium nitride. The higher the breakdown voltage, the more power a device can handle. Simulations suggest the transistor has a field strength of more than 10 million volts per centimeter. The transistor could lead to smaller and more efficient electronic systems that control […]
Carbon nanotube transistors make the leap from lab to factory floor
MIT News June 1, 2020 Carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNFETs) have only been fabricated in academic or research laboratories. Developing a suitable method for depositing nanotubes uniformly over industry-standard large-area substrates has been the challenge for commercializing it. An international team of researchers (USA – MIT, industry, Canada) has shown that a deposition technique in which the substrate is submerged within a nanotube solution can allow CNFETs to be fabricated within industrial facilities. They have developed process modifications to standard solution-based methods accelerating the deposition process by more than 1,100 times and reducing cost. They have demonstrated uniform and reproducible […]