First transistor developed with nanotechnology

02 October 2011

Transistors are an indispensible component of electronic devices, where they strengthen weak electrical currents. Researchers have developed a new type of transistor which is 50 times more energy efficient than today’s models. It is also the first to be developed using nanotechnology.
“One of these transistors could reduce the energy consumption of mobile phones and computers, for example, meaning that they wouldn’t need to be charged as often. Moreover, it could open up possibilities to communicate on frequencies that are too high to be used with today’s technology”, explains Lars-Erik Wernersson, Professor of Solid State Physics at Lund University.
For some time, researchers have struggled to make transistors any smaller; they easily become overheated because the electrons release so much energy.

”But our model is built of indium arsenide, in which the electrons move more easily than in silicon, which is the conventional semiconductor material in transistors. In fact, it is difficult to make transistors of indium arsenide, but with nanotechnology it is quite simple”, explains Lars-Erik Wernersson.

The transistor is built on nanotechnology. Lars-Erik Wernersson explains that this means the material is self-organised in accordance with a bottom-up principle instead of being ‘carved out’, which is the usual method.

In the long term, Lars-Erik Wernersson and his colleagues also hope to develop transistors that can communicate on entirely new frequencies. Today’s electrical devices use 3–10 gigahertz. It is hoped that it will be possible to reach 60 GHz, which is a significantly higher frequency range.

“With 10 GHz it is only possible to communicate over short distances and not through walls, for example. However, this new frequency range could make wireless communication in the home more efficient, for example when a film is downloaded or a television communicates with a projector. We know that in the future, electronic devices will be increasingly integrated”, he adds.

There are other researchers in the world who are doing similar research, for example at IBM in the US, but the fact is that the Swedish researchers have come the furthest in this field.