New design for transistors

Scientists have demonstrated the first reproducible, controllable silicon transistors that are turned on and off by the motion of individual electrons.

The experimental devices, designed and fabricated at NTT Corporation of Japan and tested at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), may have applications in low-power nanoelectronics, particularly as next-generation integrated circuits for logic operations (as opposed to simpler memory tasks).

The transistors are based on the principle that as device sizes shrink to the nanometre range, the amount of energy required to move a single electron increases significantly. This makes it possible to control individual electron motion and current flow by manipulating the voltage applied to barriers, or "gates," in the electrical circuit. At negative voltage, the transistor is off; at higher voltage, the transistor is turned on and individual electrons file through the circuit, as opposed to thousands at a time in a conventional device.