1nm Transistor Is Born—Moore’s Law Will Remain Valid for the Long Term

According to a report released on the evening of October 7, Beijing time, a research team led by Ali Javey, a professor at the U.S. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (hereinafter referred to as “Berkeley Lab”), recently developed the world’s smallest transistor using carbon nanotubes and a compound called molybdenum disulfide. A transistor consists of three terminals: the source, the drain, and the gate. Current flows from the source to the drain, and is controlled by the gate, which can be turned on and off depending on the voltage applied. Sujay De, a researcher at Berkeley Lab, ...

A transistor consists of three terminals: the source, the drain, and the gate. Current flows from the source to the drain, and is controlled by the gate, which can be turned on and off depending on the voltage applied.

Sujay Desai, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said: “For a long time, the semiconductor industry has believed that any gate smaller than 5 nanometers couldn’t function properly. As a result, people had never considered gates smaller than 5 nanometers before.”

However, the transistor developed this time by the Berkeley Lab has a gate length of just 1 nanometer. Gavi said, “We’ve created the smallest transistor known to date. The gate length is used to measure a transistor’s specifications, and our successful development of a 1-nanometer-gate transistor means that, provided the right materials are chosen, there’s still considerable room for further miniaturization of today’s electronic components.”

De Sai stated: “Our research findings show that gate lengths below 5 nanometers are indeed feasible. For years, people have been shrinking the size of electronic components by relying on silicon materials. But we abandoned silicon and instead chose molybdenum disulfide, ultimately developing a gate that measures just 1 nanometer in length.”

Both silicon and molybdenum disulfide have a crystalline lattice structure. However, compared to molybdenum disulfide, electrons flowing through silicon are lighter and encounter less resistance. This advantage of silicon becomes particularly pronounced when the gate length is 5 nanometers or longer. But when the gate length falls below 5 nanometers, a quantum-mechanical phenomenon known as “tunneling” begins to occur, effectively blocking the flow of current from the source to the drain.

Desai explained, “This means we can’t turn off the transistor—the electrons have completely gotten out of control.” In contrast, the electrons flowing through molybdenum disulfide are heavier, allowing them to be controlled by shorter gates.

After selecting molybdenum disulfide as the semiconductor material, the next step was to fabricate the gate. However, creating structures measuring just 1 nanometer is no easy feat—traditional lithography techniques simply aren't suitable for such tiny scales. In the end, the researchers turned to carbon nanotubes: hollow cylindrical tubes with diameters of only 1 nanometer.

Tests conducted by researchers show that molybdenum disulfide transistors with carbon nanotube gates can effectively control electron flow. “This research demonstrates that our transistors will no longer be limited to 5-nanometer gates,” said Gavi. “By using appropriate semiconductor materials and device architectures, Moore’s Law will continue to hold true for the long term.”

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