Researchers from MIT and University of Colorado produce smallest 3-D transistor yet

 

Using a new manufacturing technique, MIT researchers fabricated a 3-D transistor less than half the width of today’s slimmest commercial models, which could help cram far more transistors onto a single computer chip. Pictured is a cross-section of one of the researchers’ transistors that measures only 3 nanometers wide. Credits Courtesy of the researchers: Published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives license

 

[MIT News] Researchers from MIT and the University of Colorado have fabricated a 3-D transistor that’s less than half the size of today’s smallest commercial models. To do so, they developed a novel microfabrication technique that modifies semiconductor material atom by atom.

As described in a paper presented at this week’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, the researchers modified a recently invented chemical-etching technique, called thermal atomic level etching (thermal ALE), to enable precision modification of semiconductor materials at the atomic level. Using that technique, the researchers fabricated 3-D transistors that are as narrow as 2.5 nanometers and more efficient than their commercial counterparts.

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