Development of Energy-Efficient Single-Electron Transistors with Oxide Nanoelectronics.

摘要

The principal goal of this DARPA Seedling project was to develop an oxide-based single-electron transistor and memory based on complex oxide nanostructures. The challenge was to create a device with ultra-high density and ultra-low power consumption, comparable to fundamental limits (approx. kT/gate operation) for irreversible classical computing. The specific approach involved the development of a new method for controlling the metal-insulator transition at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface. Previously, a sketch-based field-effect transistor ( SketchFET ) had been demonstrated with feature sizes as small as 2 nm. Modifications of this original design were proposed in which a floating gate could be used to control electron flow through a device channel. The sketch-based single-electron transistor was acronym-ready ( SketchSET ) and waiting to be realized. Along the way toward the development of this device were important fundamental materials and device questions concerning the writing mechanism, its compatibility with commercial manufacturing processes, transistor fundamental speed limitations and on/off ratios, the height of energy barriers created by the writing process, the stability of written structures, and novel device building blocks such as asymmetric barriers. A great deal was learned along the way in those areas as well, with support from this project.