SoylentNews Comments | "Negative Capacitance" Transistors Demonstrated

"Negative Capacitance" Transistors Demonstrated

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday December 21 2017, @01:46AM

from the breaking-the-thermionic-limit dept.

Purdue University researchers have demonstrated a transistor using a negative capacitor made with hafnium zirconium oxide:

Researchers have experimentally demonstrated how to harness a property called negative capacitance for a new type of transistor that could reduce power consumption, validating a theory proposed in 2008 by a team at Purdue University.
[...] Capacitance, or the storage of electrical charge, normally has a positive value. However, using the ferroelectric material in a transistor's gate allows for negative capacitance, which could result in far lower power consumption to operate a transistor. Such an innovation could bring more efficient devices that run longer on a battery charge.
[...] Properly switching off [transistors] is of special importance to ensure that no electricity "leaks" through. This switching normally requires a minimum of 60 millivolts for every tenfold increase in current, a requirement called the thermionic limit. However, transistors that harness negative capacitance might break this fundamental limit, switching at far lower voltages and resulting in less power consumption.

Steep-slope hysteresis-free negative capacitance MoS₂ transistors (DOI: 10.1038/s41565-017-0010-1) (DX)

2014: Negative capacitance in a ferroelectric capacitor (DOI: 10.1038/nmat4148) (DX)

2008: Use of Negative Capacitance to Provide Voltage Amplification for Low Power Nanoscale Devices (DOI: 10.1021/nl071804g) (DX)

Original Submission