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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)
(Score: 3, Funny) by lentilla on Thursday December 21 2017, @11:55AM
Well, you don't need a laboratory, you can actually do this at home.
Firstly, get an ordinary electrolytic capacitor - say 2200uF rated at 16 volts. Clamp it firmly to the end of your vacuum cleaner's hose - you can use ordinary sticky tape but just be sure it will hold. Now turn on the vacuum cleaner and apply a high voltage to the capacitor leads. Polarity is not important: in fact, alternating current from the mains works quite well. Now go ahead and suck out all the magic smoke from that cap. Turn everything off, remove the tape and dope the end of capacitor in epoxy to make sure any stray positive capacitance doesn't creep back in. And there you go: a negative 2200uF capacitor for less than the cost of a cheeseburger.