- MIT creates nanoscale transistors for efficient electronics
- Quantum tunneling offers high performance and low voltage
- The technology has the potential to replace silicon.
MIT researchers have developed a nanoscale transistor that could potentially pave the way for more efficient electronics than silicon-based devices.
Traditional silicon transistors, essential in most electronic devices, face a physical limitation known as “Boltzmann tyranny,” which prevents them from operating below a certain voltage.
This limitation restricts energy efficiency, especially as modern applications like AI drive faster, more powerful computing.
Nanowire heterostructures
To address these limitations, the MIT team created a new three-dimensional transistor using ultrathin semiconductor materials, including gallium antimonide and indium arsenide.
The design takes advantage of a quantum mechanical phenomenon known as quantum tunneling, which allows electrons to travel through an energy barrier rather than over it. This structure, consisting of vertical nanowires just a few nanometers wide, allows these transistors to operate at much lower voltages while maintaining performance on par with state-of-the-art silicon transistors.
“This is a technology with the potential to replace silicon, so it could be used with all the functions that silicon currently has, but with much better energy efficiency,” said Yanjie Shao, an MIT postdoc and lead author of the study. MIT News. By relying on tunnel transistors, the device achieves a sharp transition between “off” and “on” states at a lower voltage, something silicon transistors cannot do as efficiently.
Transistors are designed using quantum confinement, where electrons are controlled within a tiny space, improving their ability to pass through barriers. MIT's advanced facility, MIT.nano, allowed researchers to create the precise 3D geometry needed for this effect, creating vertical nanowire heterostructures with diameters as small as 6 nanometers, the smallest 3D transistors reported to date.
“We have a lot of flexibility to design these material heterostructures so that we can achieve a very thin tunneling barrier, which allows us to get very high current,” Shao explains. This design supports a steep switching slope, allowing the device to operate below the voltage limit of conventional silicon.
According to Jesús del Álamo, lead author and Donner Professor of Engineering, “With conventional physics, you can only go so far. Yanjie's work shows that we can do better than that, but we have to use different physics. “There are still many challenges to overcome to make this approach commercial in the future, but conceptually it is really a big step forward.”
The research team, which includes MIT professors Ju Li, Marco Pala and David Esseni, has now focused on improving manufacturing methods to achieve greater uniformity between chips. Small inconsistencies, even at the nanometer level, can affect device performance, so they are exploring alternative vertical designs that could improve consistency. The study, published in Nature Electronicswas funded in part by Intel Corporation, reflecting industry interest in exploring solutions beyond traditional silicon technology.