MIT微系统技术实验室研究者们称创造出了有史以来最小的三极管，且未使用硅。三极管由砷化铟镓制成，此材料之前已运用于光纤和雷达技术，且只有22纳米厚——约9股人类DNA的宽度。因为它与微处理器常用的晶体管属同种类型，这意味着它可以成为结构更加紧密——因此具更高性能的芯片。
研究者期望找到硅的替代品，因为硅的速度和效力在极小尺度上锐减，威胁到摩尔定律预测的前序过程。共同研发者和MIT教授Jesus del Alamo称这项发展“誓使硅对摩尔定律鞭长莫及。”MIT新闻报道研究者下一步将致力于提高晶体管的电性能和总体速度。如果他们成功达到此目标，团队计划尝试进一步减小设备尺寸，争取小于10纳米。
MIT科研队伍本周将在旧金山国际电子设备大会上公布他们的发现，与来自普渡和哈佛大学的研究者一道，他们使用相同的材料制成了圣诞树状的晶体管。普渡教授Peide Ye说，这个独特而匀称的形状，将会使操作系统更通用、更快捷。普渡研究者预计至2015年将晶体管尺寸降至14纳米，2018年降至10纳米。
以下为原文：
Researchers from MIT"s Microsystems Technology Laboratories claim to have created the smallest transistor ever to be made out of a material other than silicon. The transistor is made of indium gallium arsenide, a material already used in fiber-optic and radar technologies, and is just 22 nanometers thick — the size of about nine strands of human DNA. Because this is the same type of transistor typically used in microprocessors, it could mean more densely packed — and consequently higher performance — chips.
Researchers hope to have found an alternative to silicon, the speed and effectiveness of which dwindles on extremely small scales, threatening the forward progress predicted by Moore"s Law. Co-developer and MIT professor Jesús del Alamo claims that this development "promises to take Moore"s Law beyond the reach of silicon." MIT Newsreports that the researchers" next step is to improve the transistor"s electrical performance and overall speed. If they manage to achieve that goal, the team intends to attempt to shrink the device even further, aiming for smaller than ten nanometers.
MIT"s research team will be presenting their findings this week at the International Electron devices meeting in San Franciso alongside researchers from Purdue and Harvard Universities who have created a christmas-tree shaped transistor using the same material. The unique stacked shape, Purdue professor Peide Ye says, leads to more current and faster operation. Purdue researchers expect to reduce their transistor to 14 nanometers by 2015, and ten nanometers by 2018.
(元器件交易网 卢姿伊译)
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