the fastest and most efficient transistor that exists

Transistors are the cornerstone of Integrated circuits. The first as we know them were currently invented in 1947 by John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain, three physicists from Bell laboratories. A simple way to define a transistor invites us to describe it as A semiconductor electronic device which is capable of responding to an input signal by giving us a certain exit. An electronic amplifier, for example, will increase the power, voltage or the current of the signal that we place at its input, using an external power supply.

There are several types of transistors (bipolar, specific contact, field effect, uniunion, unique electron, phototransistors, organic electrochemicals, etc.), but, fortunately, we do not need to deepen them much more to be able to move forward with this article. It is enough for us to know two more data about these devices. On the one hand, what They are active elements within the integrated circuits. And, in addition, that those that have allowed us to achieve the level of integration used by current lithographic techniques are those of field effect (FET).

Bismuth transistors promise us to change the rules of the game of chips

The Spanish physicist Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and his MIT colleagues (Massachusetts Technology Institute), in the US, they talked about the potential of Boro Nituro in a scientific article that they published in Science In 2021. At that time his proposal was only theoretical, but three years later They brought their ideas to practice. And yes, they have enormous potential. What they did, in short, is to manufacture a new type of transistors using an ultra -elapsed ferroelectric material constituted of boron nitride (it is an extremely hard compound formed in the same proportion by boron and nitrogen).

The starting point of the researchers of the University of Beijing we are talking about in the head of this article is different. In the scientific text they have published in Nature Materials They argue to have designed A GAAFET type field effect transistor (Gate-Lall-Around Field-Effect Transistor) that is 40% faster and 10% more efficient from an energy point of view than the most advanced finger transistors that use Intel and TSMC today. Sounds good.

GaaFet technology is already The present of the semiconductorsso TSMC, Intel and Samsung have been working on it for several years. However, these Chinese transistors have a characteristic that clearly unchecks them from the devices that are using the three companies I just mentioned: they use bismuth instead of silicon. The use of this chemical element, according to these Chinese scientists, allows these transistors to solve the limitations imposed by silicon when implementing integrated circuits that They go beyond the 3 nm.

These statements by Peng Hailin, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Beijing and leader of this research, express with roundness Why these transistors are important: “It is the fastest and most efficient transistor ever created (…) If innovations in chips based on existing materials are considered a shortcut, then our transistors based on 2D materials are like ‘changing lane’ (…) Our research shows that the GaaFet 2D exhibits a performance and energy efficiency comparable to silicon commercial transistors, which makes them promising candidates for The next generation of semiconductors“Hopefully it is like that. I hope these transistors succeed when leaving the laboratory and be adopted by the industry.

Image | TSMC

More information | Nature Materials

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