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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology researchers have designed graphene transistors [mipt.ru] capable of harnessing rather than resisting quantum tunneling in order to operate at high frequencies using low power:

Building transistors that are capable of switching at low voltages (less than 0.5 volts) is one of the greatest challenges of modern electronics. Tunnel transistors are the most promising candidates to solve this problem. Unlike in conventional transistors, where electrons "jump" through the energy barrier, in tunnel transistors the electrons "filter" through the barrier due to the quantum tunneling effect. However, in most semiconductors the tunneling current is very small and this prevents transistors that are based on these materials from being used in real circuits.

The authors of the article, scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the Institute of Physics and Technology RAS, and Tohoku University (Japan), proposed a new design for a tunnel transistor based on bilayer graphene, and using modelling, they proved that this material is an ideal platform for low-voltage electronics.

[...] Under optimum conditions, a graphene transistor can change the current in a circuit ten thousand times with a gate voltage swing of only 150 millivolts. "This means that the transistor requires less energy for switching, chips will require less energy, less heat will be generated, less powerful cooling systems will be needed, and clock speeds can be increased without the worry that the excess heat will destroy the chip," says Svintsov.

Found at NextBigFuture [nextbigfuture.com].

Abrupt current switching in graphene bilayer tunnel transistors enabled by van Hove singularities [nature.com] (open, DOI: 10.1038/srep24654)

Original Submission