MIT's 3D nanoscale transistors use quantum tunneling design to bypass physical limits
The problem they're tackling is what's known as Boltzmann tyranny. It refers to the fundamental limit to how little voltage is required to switch a silicon transistor.
Why it matters: Silicon transistors are great, but just like any other object in the physical world, they are held back by a few limitations. The laws of physics put a bottleneck on performance and energy efficiency. Now, a group of MIT engineers may have found a way to blow past those limits using a radical new transistor design that behaves in wild quantum ways.
The problem they're tackling is what's known as "Boltzmann tyranny." It refers to the fundamental limit to how little voltage is required to switch a silicon transistor on and off at room temperature, where if you crank the voltage down too far, the transistor loses its switching ability. This voltage floor prevents major gains in energy efficiency for electronics, which could be a problem as power-hungry AI applications take over more processing duties.
The MIT team fabricated experimental transistors from unique semiconductor materials like gallium antimonide and indium arsenide, rather than traditional silicon. The research is funded, in part, by Intel Corporation and was published recently in Nature Electronics.
However, the real magic is in their unique tiny 3D design, engineered with precision tools at MIT.nano, the university's dedicated facility for nanoscale research. The transistors feature vertical nanowire heterostructures with a minuscule diameter of just 6 nanometers, which the researchers believe are the smallest 3D transistors ever reported.
Article