3D transistors

摘要

Computer-chip manufacturer Intel has announced that it will mass-produce three-dimensional transistors for its next generation of chips. Usually, the channel along which electric current passes in a transistor is flat; in the 'Tri-Gate' transistors (pictured), it protrudes from the surface so that the gate' that switches current on or off wraps around the channel on three sides. The concept - developed in the late 1990s by Chenming Hu at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues - should allow smaller components to be packed more closely on chips. See go.nature.com/2omjfp for more.