The new anti-ambipolar transistors can simultaneously implement multi-valued logic circuits and frequency multipliers, which makes them unique.
A team of researchers from the City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) has presented a new approach to creating universal and high-performance electronics using transistors made from nanowires and nanoflakes of different sizes, Sci Tech Daily reports.
The new method will simplify chip design and contribute to the development of electronic devices that are both flexible and energy efficient. To overcome rising power consumption, scientists are using a technology called multi-valued logic (MVL) to design chips. It overcomes the limitations of traditional binary logic systems by significantly reducing the number of transistor components and their connections, resulting in higher information density and lower power dissipation on the chip.
Today, researchers are creating a variety of MVL devices, including anti-ambipolar transistors (AATs), a class of transistors in which positive (“holes”) and negative (“electrons”) charge carriers can move simultaneously within a semiconductor channel. However, existing AAT-based devices predominantly use 2D or organic materials, which are not stable for large-scale integration of semiconductor devices. In addition, their frequency characteristics and energy efficiency have hardly been studied.
To address these limitations, scientists at CityUHK, led by Professor Jonny Ho, designed circuits based on anti-ambipolar devices with higher information content, density and fewer connections, and studied their frequency characteristics. The team created an advanced chemical vapor deposition technique to create a new mixed-size transistor that combines the unique properties of high-quality nanowires (GaAsSb) and nanoflakes (MoS2).
The new anti-ambipolar transistors have exceptional characteristics because… they can simultaneously implement multi-valued logic circuits and frequency multipliers, which makes them unique, the scientists explained.
Multi-valued logic characteristics simplify complex wire networks and reduce chip power dissipation. Reducing the size of the device makes it fast and energy efficient, which will lead to the creation of high-performance digital and analog circuits, the developers believe.
Important
Taiwan will hit China and it will hurt very much: the island will leave China without advanced chips
“Our results show that mixed-dimensional anti-ambipolar devices enable the design of chips with high storage density and processing capacity,” said Professor Ho. “Until now, most researchers have tried to make processors as small as possible to comply with Moore’s Law. But the very existence of the anti-ambipolar transistor shows superiority over other existing technologies. Our technology is a big step towards the next generation of multi-function integrated circuits and telecommunications technologies.”
The research also opens up the possibility of further simplifying complex integrated circuits to improve performance.
We previously wrote that thousands of buyers will not receive luxury cars due to the “wrong” chip. The cars are stuck at customs while Volkswagen tries to replace the sanctioned Chinese electronics with others.
