A hot-emitter transistor based on stimulated emission of heated carriers

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Liu, Chi; Wang, Xin-Zhe; Shen, Cong; Ma, Lai-Peng; Yang, Xu-Qi; Kong, Yue; Ma, Wei; Liang, Yan; Feng, Shun; Wang, Xiao-Yue; Wei, Yu-Ning; Zhu, Xi; Li, Bo; Li, Chang-Ze; Dong, Shi-Chao; Zhang, Li-Ning; Ren, Wen-Cai; Sun, Dong-Ming; Cheng, Hui-Ming
• 署名单位: Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Metal Research, CAS; Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China, CAS; Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School (PKU Shenzhen); Peking University; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, CAS
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-5568
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07785-3
• 发表日期: 2024-08-22
• 页码: 782-+
• 关键词: negative-differential-resistance; field-effect transistor; graphene; integration; device

摘要

Hot-carrier transistors are a class of devices that leverage the excess kinetic energy of carriers. Unlike regular transistors, which rely on steady-state carrier transport, hot-carrier transistors modulate carriers to high-energy states, resulting in enhanced device speed and functionality. These characteristics are essential for applications that demand rapid switching and high-frequency operations, such as advanced telecommunications and cutting-edge computing technologies(1-5). However, the traditional mechanisms of hot-carrier generation are either carrier injection(6-11) or acceleration(12,13), which limit device performance in terms of power consumption and negative differential resistance(14-17). Mixed-dimensional devices, which combine bulk and low-dimensional materials, can offer different mechanisms for hot-carrier generation by leveraging the diverse potential barriers formed by energy-band combinations(18-21). Here we report a hot-emitter transistor based on double mixed-dimensional graphene/germanium Schottky junctions that uses stimulated emission of heated carriers to achieve a subthreshold swing lower than 1millivolt per decade beyond the Boltzmann limit and a negative differential resistance with a peak-to-valley current ratio greater than 100 at room temperature. Multi-valued logic with a high inverter gain and reconfigurable logic states are further demonstrated. This work reports a multifunctional hot-emitter transistor with significant potential for low-power and negative-differential-resistance applications, marking a promising advancement for the post-Moore era.