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Reconfigurable Silicon Nanowire Transistors

Namlab gGmbH, Nöthnitzer Str. 64, 01187 Dresden , Germany
Technische Universität München, Department of Hybrid Electronic Systems, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 Munich, Germany
§ Technische Universität Dresden, Chair for Nanoelectric Materials, Helmholtzstraße 10, D-01069 Dresden, Germany
Nano Lett., 2012, 12 (1), pp 119–124
DOI: 10.1021/nl203094h
Publication Date (Web): November 23, 2011
Copyright © 2011 American Chemical Society

Abstract

Abstract Image

Over the past 30 years electronic applications have been dominated by complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices. These combine p- and n-type field effect transistors (FETs) to reduce static power consumption. However, CMOS transistors are limited to static electrical functions, i.e., electrical characteristics that cannot be changed. Here we present the concept and a demonstrator of a universal transistor that can be reversely configured as p-FET or n-FET simply by the application of an electric signal. This concept is enabled by employing an axial nanowire heterostructure (metal/intrinsic-silicon/metal) with independent gating of the Schottky junctions. In contrast to conventional FETs, charge carrier polarity and concentration are determined by selective and sensitive control of charge carrier injections at each Schottky junction, explicitly avoiding the use of dopants as shown by measurements and calculations. Besides the additional functionality, the fabricated nanoscale devices exhibit enhanced electrical characteristics, e.g., record on/off ratio of up to 1 × 109 for Schottky transistors. This novel nanotransistor technology makes way for a simple and compact hardware platform that can be flexibly reconfigured during operation to perform different logic computations yielding unprecedented circuit design flexibility.

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This article has been cited by 5 ACS Journal articles (5 most recent appear below).

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History

  • Published In Issue January 11, 2012
  • Article ASAPDecember 01, 2011
  • Just Accepted ManuscriptNovember 23, 2011
  • Received: September 06, 2011
    Revised: November 17, 2011

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