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Dec 26, 2023

‘Negative capacitance’ could bring more efficient transistors

Posted by in categories: computing, materials

Researchers have experimentally demonstrated how to harness a property called negative capacitance for a new type of transistor that could reduce power consumption, validating a theory proposed in 2008 by a team at Purdue University.

The researchers used an extremely thin, or 2-D, layer of the semiconductor molybdenum disulfide to make a channel adjacent to a critical part of called the gate. Then they used a “ferroelectric material” called hafnium zirconium oxide to create a key component in the newly designed gate called a negative capacitor.

Capacitance, or the storage of electrical charge, normally has a positive value. However, using the ferroelectric material in a transistor’s gate allows for negative capacitance, which could result in far to operate a transistor. Such an innovation could bring more efficient devices that run longer on a battery charge.

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