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| Physics World - MottFET |
Ideal Transistor
An ideal transistor would be a total insulator in the off state and a perfect conductor in the on state. Therefore, an important measure of the quality of a transistor is the ratio of the on current to the off current. However, with a standard field-effect transistor (FET), this change in conductivity is influenced by only a thin layer close to where the current flows between gate and drain. This limits the ratio of on current to off current that can be achieved.
Scientists have suggested that it might be possible to improve this ratio by exploiting Mott insulators in transistors. Mott insulators are materials that should behave as metals according to conventional band theories but that act as insulators under certain conditions owing to quantum-mechanical correlations between neighbouring electrons. For reasons that are complex and not entirely understood, however, sudden phase transitions can be induced between the insulating state and the metallic state. Among other things, this metal–insulator transition can be induced by an electric field. While the gate voltage in an ordinary transistor simply modulates the resistance of a semiconductor, the gate voltage in a Mott transistor could turn an insulator into a metal.
Scientists have suggested that it might be possible to improve this ratio by exploiting Mott insulators in transistors. Mott insulators are materials that should behave as metals according to conventional band theories but that act as insulators under certain conditions owing to quantum-mechanical correlations between neighbouring electrons. For reasons that are complex and not entirely understood, however, sudden phase transitions can be induced between the insulating state and the metallic state. Among other things, this metal–insulator transition can be induced by an electric field. While the gate voltage in an ordinary transistor simply modulates the resistance of a semiconductor, the gate voltage in a Mott transistor could turn an insulator into a metal.
Physics World: Prototype 'Mott Transistor' developed
Physics arXiv: A heterojunction modulation-doped Mott transistor
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