Transistors are an indispensable building block in electric appliances, where they amplify weak electric currents. Now researchers have developed a new type of transistor that is 50 times more energy efficient than today's models. It is also the first to be developed using nanotechnology. The new transistor is described in the latest issue of Electron Device Letters.
"This kind of transistor should be able to reduce energy consumption in mobile phones and computers, for example, so they wouldn't have to be recharged so often. What's more, it can pave the way for communicating in frequencies that are too high for today's technology," says Lars-Erik Wernersson, professor of solid state physics at the Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, in Sweden.

For some time researchers have been stymied by the fact that transistors can't be reduced any further in size without overheating, since the electrons release so much energy.

"But our model is made up of indium arsenide, where the electrons move more easily compared with silicon, the conventional semiconductor material in transistors. Actually, it's hard to produce transistors with indium arsenide, but if we apply nanotechnology, it's rather simple," explains Lars-Erik Wernersson.

The transistor is thus constructed using nanotechnology. According to Lars-Erik Wernersson, this means that the material is self-organized according to a bottom-up principle instead of being "carved out," which is the conventional method.

Source: Informationsdienst Wissenschaft. Read more >>

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