Log In   |   Sign up

New User Registration

Article / Abstract Submission
Register here
Register
Press Release Submission
Register here
Register
coolingZONE Supplier
Register here
Register

Existing User


            Forgot your password
John O | December 2018

Researchers modify semiconductors at atomic level to produce smallest 3-D transistors


By Josh Perry, Editor
[email protected]

 

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. and the University of Colorado (Boulder, Colo.) have demonstrated a microfabrication technique for modifying semiconductors atom by atom that produced a 3-D transistor, which is half the size of the smallest commercial models.

 


Pictured is a cross-section of one of the researchers’ transistors that measures only 3 nanometers wide. (MIT)

 

The scientists presented this new concept in a paper at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco, Calif.

 

According to an article from MIT, 3-D transistors that stand vertically have been created to find new ways to get as many transistors onto microchips as possible. The research team adapted a chemical-etching technique (thermal atomic level etching) to modify semiconductor materials atom by atom and produce 3-D transistors as narrow as 2.5 nm.

 

The atomic layer etching (ALE) process, which uses plasma with high-energy ions to strip individual atoms from a material’s surface, was modified into thermal ALE at Colorado using ligand exchange. 

 

“In this process, an ion in one compound called a ligand — which binds to metal atoms — gets replaced by a ligand in a different compound,” the article explained. “When the chemicals are purged away, the reaction causes the replacement ligands to strip away individual atoms from the surface. Still in its infancy, thermal ALE has, so far, only been used to etch oxides.”

 

The process was refined further in this new study to work with indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), which is a potential alternative to silicon.

 

“The researchers exposed the material to hydrogen fluoride, the compound used for the original thermal ALE work, which forms an atomic layer of metal fluoride on the surface,” the article continued. “Then, they poured in an organic compound called dimethylaluminum chloride (DMAC). The ligand-exchange process occurs on the metal fluoride layer. When the DMAC is purged, individual atoms follow.”

 

Thermal ALE produced FinFETS that were less than five nanometers in width and 220 nm in height. Most companies within the electronics industry are using seven-nanometer FinFETs. The new device performed 60 percent better in transconductance.

 

Read more about this advancement at http://news.mit.edu/2018/smallest-3-d-transistor-1207.

Choose category and click GO to search for thermal solutions

 
 

Subscribe to Qpedia

a subscription to qpedia monthly thermal magazine from the media partner advanced thermal solutions, inc. (ats)  will give you the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of information about the thermal management of electronics

subscribe

Submit Article

if you have a technical article, and would like it to be published on coolingzone
please send your article in word format to [email protected] or upload it here

Subscribe to coolingZONE

Submit Press Release

if you have a press release and would like it to be published on coolingzone please upload your pr  here

Member Login

Supplier's Directory

Search coolingZONE's Supplier Directory
GO
become a coolingzone supplier

list your company in the coolingzone supplier directory

suppliers log in

Media Partner, Qpedia

qpedia_158_120






Heat Transfer Calculators