Lead
The phrase "new technology affects the world for another decade" has become a norm, taking the now popular artificial intelligence technology as an example, since the boom, various technology companies have joined it, not to be left behind.
However, not long after the start of artificial intelligence technology, a major invention was born that can affect the world in the next decade, or even decades, or hundreds of years, which is the "ferroelectric transistor" technology discovered by the research team of the United States Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
According to the research team, this new transistor has advantages over current electronic technology in many ways, and can be called a revolutionary breakthrough in electronics.
Transistor related research.
In 1960, the world's first flash memory came out, and later smaller and more advanced flash memory technology was discovered one after another, and flash memory technology was widely used in memory cards, U disks, solid-state drives and other devices with lower cost, smaller volume, larger memory and other advantages.
Today, however, flash memory technology is still the most important and indispensable part of electronics.
Thanks to the efforts of many researchers, transistor design technology has also been continuously improved, not only making the device lighter, more superior, and more compact.
A new type of design called "iron battery" was even developed.
As a result, expectations are very high.
However, there is a subdivision within these areas that should not only not be ignored, but should be in the spotlight.
This is "electronics".
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have made several important discoveries in the field of "electronics".
They took an important step forward in their fresh invention and became a major discovery in the field of fundamental physics.
The new transistor they invented uses a single layer of graphene and a double layer of boron nitride.
In fundamental physics research, ultra-thin materials such as graphene have greatly increased the amount of binomial substances that can be formed by known substances.
This theory was proposed as early as 2013.
So scientists experimented on it.
The results show that it does exist, and that when thin layers of graphene and boron nitride are superimposed, the difference in the atomic position of the extra layer results in different electronic properties.
This phenomenon is known as the conversion property and plays a vital role in the multi-layered substance.
To explain its properties, scientists have tested only a monolayer of material, which has better electronic properties in a multilayer of matter.
As a result, in the field of electronics, researchers are strongly interested in the impact it will have.
Research results of ferroelectric transistors.
In 2020, a research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) discovered the influence of ferroelectric materials on two-dimensional ultra-thin materials for the first time through a combination of rational calculations and experimental observations.
The conclusion shows that the ferroelectric properties in ultra-thin boron nitride can form a switch with great practical value, which can achieve rapid large-scale integration.
This discovery has attracted the attention of materials scientists and electronics scientists around the world, and it is recognized that the existence of this new material will bring important performance improvements to electronic devices.
After that, the research team further researched and fabricated a prototype ferroelectric field effect transistor, which can be said to have a promising performance.
They utilize materials manufacturing processes that physicists are familiar with, allowing them to be operated both in the lab and in industry.
In order to digitize this finding, the research team applied it to very promising electronic components and conducted detailed studies.
The results show that these components are able to switch very quickly when processing inputs.
Specifically, they switch charges at nanosecond speeds, which are very useful for high-performance computing.
This discovery has sparked intense interest in the use of these devices in computers and other electronic devices.
Among them, the ferroelectric FET transistor of ultra-thin boron nitride is an important milestone in this research.
By combining a ferroelectric boron nitride layer with a graphene layer, the research team fabricated the new transistor.
This discovery suggests that monolayer boron nitride can be a very promising material for the next generation of electronic devices.
Compared to traditional flash memory devices, this new transistor shows amazing results in terms of switching durability.
After 100 billion switches, the new transistor has not shown any significant degradation.
This result is far superior to that of traditional flash memory devices, which degrade significantly after 1,000 switches.
According to the standards of the International Association for Solid-State Electronics, the performance of this new transistor in terms of switching durability will make its application in electronic devices even brighter.
In addition, the ultra-thin structure of this new transistor, which is only one billionth of a meter thick, will help increase the density and energy efficiency of computer memory.
This property makes it a highly anticipated material for next-generation electronic devices.
What's even more exciting is that this ultra-thin boron nitride ferroFET transistor is compatible with current production processes, paving the way for its use in electronic devices.
Other relevant studies.
Although this new discovery has great potential, it is still in its early stages.
While scientists are working to make this new material more usable in prototyping, they still don't meet the standards needed for mass production.
To achieve this, the research team needs to conduct more experiments to confirm its potential application directions.
In addition, they needed to address some of the manufacturing challenges that existed so that the new material could be widely used in consumer electronics.
The research team is working hard to find a solution.
They are exploring the use of methods such as light pulses to trigger ferroelectricity, which may lead to greater flexibility and efficiency, and help enable mass manufacturing of ferroelectric FETs.
If this goal is achieved, it will open up completely new possibilities for the design and manufacture of electronic devices.
epilogue
This new discovery by the MIT research team is undoubtedly an important milestone that will advance the development of electronics and potentially reshape it in the next decade or two.
This ultra-thin boron nitride ferroFET may give us more powerful devices, higher performance, and lower energy consumption.
As research continues to advance, we look forward to more surprises and applications from this new material.
Let's look forward to a better future of electronics!