Researchers have created a new theoretical framework that shows how memory-preserving “memtransistors” could overcome the intrinsic limits in efficiency faced by conventional semiconductor transistors, imposed by the laws of thermodynamics.

Led by Victor Lopez-Richard at the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil, in collaboration with the University of Wurzburg, in Germany, and the University of Richmond, U.S., the researchers showed that further improvements to transistor switching efficiency could be reached simply by harnessing memory effects that are already present in many nanoscale devices. The research has been published in Physical Review Applied.