The laws of physics put a bottleneck on performance and energy efficiency.
The problem they’re tackling is what’s known as “Boltzmann tyranny.”
The research is funded, in part, by Intel Corporation and waspublishedrecently in Nature Electronics.
Another effect is quantum confinement, where the nanowire’s cramped dimensions tweak the properties of the materials.
Testing showed their slope of switching voltage was steeper than conventional silicon’s limits.
In fact, the current performance was around 20 times better than other experimental tunneling transistors.
Of course, it’s a long road from proof-of-concept to commercialization, and the team acknowledges this.
“With conventional physics, there is only so far you’ve got the option to go.
This isn’t the first time that MIT has worked to overcome the limits of Moore’s Law.
