The team, including MIT physicists Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and Raymond Ashoori, along with colleagues, has demonstrated that this material's properties could significantly impact the electronics industry. Despite the team's results being based on a single laboratory transistor, its properties already meet or exceed current industry standards for ferroelectric transistors.
Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, emphasized the significance of fundamental physics in leading to practical applications, highlighting this work as a prime example. Ashoori echoed this sentiment, suggesting that this breakthrough could profoundly impact the field in the coming decades.
This innovative transistor boasts several noteworthy features:
Rapid switching: It can alternate between positive and negative charges in just a nanosecond—one billionth of a second.
Exceptional durability: After 100 billion switches, it shows no signs of degradation.
Ultrathin structure: At only billionths of a meter thick, it could enable denser and more energy-efficient computer memory.
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The study was published in the journal Science with co-first authors Kenji Yasuda, now teaching at Cornell University as an assistant professor, and Evan Zalys-Geller from Atom Computing. Additional authors came from MIT, Harvard University, and Japan's National Institute for Materials Science. This mix of experts from various fields and places helped make the research more comprehensive.
With ferroelectric materials, positive and negative charges naturally separate and switch sides or poles when an external electric field is applied, a mechanism used to encode digital information. The material consists of atomically thin sheets of boron nitride stacked parallel to each other. When an electric field is applied, one layer slides over the other, altering the positions of boron and nitrogen atoms. This sliding mechanism creates a distinct electronic behavior without wearing out the material.
While the results are promising, they're currently based on a single laboratory transistor. The next hurdle is scaling up production for mass manufacturing. If successful, this technology could lead to faster, more durable, and energy-efficient electronics across various applications.
As research continues, this ultrathin ferroelectric material represents a significant step forward in the field of electronics, potentially paving the way for advancements in computer memory and transistor technology.
