MIT physicists have developed a transistor using a ferroelectric material that could revolutionize electronics. Developed by the same core team and their colleagues in 2021, the material is ultra-thin and separates positive and negative charges into different layers.
The team, led by Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics Pablo Jarilo-Herrero and Physics Professor Raymond Achouri, demonstrated that their new transistor exceeds current industry standards in several important ways.
At the heart of the new transistor is a ferroelectric material stacked in parallel in an arrangement that does not occur in nature.
Time Electrical When a magnetic field is applied, the layers slip slightly, shifting the position of the boron and nitrogen atoms and dramatically changing the electronic state of the material. Properties.
“My lab primarily works on fundamental physics, and this is one of the first, and perhaps most dramatic, examples of fundamental science leading to something that could have major consequences. Impact “As for the application,” Jarilo Herero said. MIT News.
High performance and durability
The new transistors feature a striking arrangement that sets them apart from conventional electronics. function.
Of particular note is their ability to switch between positive and negative charges (essentially 0s and 1s) at nanosecond speeds. This fast switching ability is key to high performance computing and data processing.
Even more remarkable is the durability of the transistors: the researchers say they showed no signs of degradation after being switched a staggering 100 billion times. By comparison, traditional flash memory devices suffer from wear-out issues and require sophisticated methods of distributing read and write operations across the chip.
What’s more, ultra-thin transistors, just a billionth of a meter thick, open up the possibility of much denser computer memory storage and more energy-efficient transistors.
Future outlook
“We created the materials and then, together with Ray, [Ashoori] and [co-first author] Evan [Zalys-Geller]”We measured its properties in detail,” said Kenji Yasuda, co-first author of the study and now an assistant professor at Cornell University, highlighting the synergy between the different research groups. “It was very exciting.”
Despite its seemingly limitless potential, the technology still has challenges to overcome before it can be widely adopted. “We made one transistor as a demonstration. If people can grow these materials on a wafer scale, they can make many, many more transistors,” Yasuda said. MIT News.
The team is also exploring different possibilities, such as inducing ferroelectricity with alternative methods, such as light pulses, and testing the limits of the material’s switching ability. Conventional methods for producing these new ferroelectrics are complex and not suitable for mass production.
“There are some challenges, but once we overcome them, this material could have many applications in future electronics, which is very exciting,” Ashoori concludes.
“Looking back on my whole career in physics, I see this as work that has the potential to change the world in 10 to 20 years.”
Details of the team’s research were published in the journal Neurology. Science.
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Amar Joss Chacko A typical work day involves writing code, taking photos of cool buildings, and dreaming of reading a book by the fire. He loves all things technology, electronics, photography, cars, chess, football, and F1.
