Y-shaped switch

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Clemson University have discovered that specially synthesised carbon nanotube structures exhibit electronic properties that are improved over conventional transistors used in computers.

UCSD Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering professors Prabhakar Bandaru and Sungho Jin, graduate student Chiara Daraio, and Clemson physicist Apparao M. Rao report that Y-shaped nanotubes behave as electronic switches similar to conventional MOS (metal oxide semiconductor) transistors, the workhorses of modern microprocessors, digital memory, and application-specific integrated circuits.

“This is the first time that a transistor-like structure has been fabricated using a branched carbon nanotube,” said Bandaru. “This discovery represents a new way of thinking about nano-electronic devices, and I think people interested in creating functionality at the nanoscale will be inspired to explore the ramifications of these Y-junction elements in greater detail.”

The increase in the speed and power efficiency of electronics over the past two decades was primarily due to the steady shrinkage in size of conventional transistors. Chip makers have reduced the minimum feature size of transistors to about 100 nanometres, and that dimension is expected to shrink by the end of this decade.