Description

On June 30, 1948, AT&T Bell Labs unveiled the transitor to the world, creating a spark of explosive economic growth that would lead into the Information Age. William Shockley led a team of researchers, including Walter Brattain and John Bardeen, who invented the device. Like the existing triode vacuum tube device, the transistor could amplify signals and switch currents on and off, but the transistor was smaller, cheaper, and more efficient. Moreover, it could be integrated with millions of other transistors onto a single chip, creating the integrated circuit at the heart of modern computers.

Today, most transistors are being manufactured with a minimum feature size of 60-90nm--roughly 200-300 atoms. As the push continues to make devices even smaller, researchers must account for quantum mechanical effects in the device behavior. With fewer and fewer atoms, the positions of impurities and other irregularities begin to matter, and device reliability becomes an issue. So rather than shrink existing devices, many researchers are working on entirely new devices, based on carbon nanotubes, spintronics, molecular conduction, and other nanotechnologies.

Learn more about transistors from the many resources on this site, listed below. Use our simulation tools to simulate performance characteristics for your own devices.

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1. Nanoelectronic Modeling Lecture 39: OMEN: Band-to-Band-Tunneling Transistors

   Online Presentations | 05 Aug 2010 | Contributor(s):: Gerhard Klimeck, Mathieu Luisier

   This presentation discusses the motivation for band-to-band tunneling transistors to lower the power requirements of the next generation transistors. The capabilities of OMEN to model such complex devices on an atomistic representation is demonstrated.Learning Objectives:Band-To-Band Tunneling...

2. Lecture 1b: Nanotransistors - A Bottom Up View

   Online Presentations | 20 Jul 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mark Lundstrom

   MOSFET scaling continues to take transistors to smaller and smaller dimensions. Today, the MOSFET is a true nanoelectronic device – one of enormous importance for computing, data storage, and for communications. In this lecture, I will present a simple, physical model for the nanoscale...

3. 2010 NCN Annual Review S13: External Education - Cal Poly Pomona

   Online Presentations | 16 Jun 2010 | Contributor(s):: Tanya Faltens

4. Drift-Diffusion Modeling and Numerical Implementation Details

   Teaching Materials | 01 Jun 2010 | Contributor(s):: Dragica Vasileska

   This tutorial describes the constitutive equations for the drift-diffusion model and implementation details such as discretization and numerical solution of the algebraic equations that result from the finite difference discretization of the Poisson and the continuity...

5. Lecture 7: On Reliability and Randomness in Electronic Devices

   Online Presentations | 14 Apr 2010 | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Background informationPrinciples of reliability physicsClassification of Electronic ReliabilityStructure Defects in Electronic MaterialsConclusions

6. Lecture 9: Breakdown in Thick Dielectrics

   Online Presentations | 05 Apr 2010 | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Breakdown in gas dielectric and Paschen’s lawSpatial and temporal dynamics during breakdownBreakdown in bulk oxides: puzzleTheory of pre-existing defects: Thin oxidesTheory of pre-existing defects: thick oxidesConclusions

7. Lecture 8: Mechanics of Defect Generation and Gate Dielectric Breakdown

   Online Presentations | 10 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

8. Nanoelectronic Modeling Lecture 23: NEMO1D - Importance of New Boundary Conditions

   Online Presentations | 09 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Gerhard Klimeck

   One of the key insights gained during the NEMO1D project was the development of new boundary conditions that enabled the modeling of realistically extended Resonant Tunneling Diodes (RTDs). The new boundary conditions are based on the partitioning of the device into emitter and collector...

9. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 21: P-N Diode Breakdown

   Online Presentations | 07 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

10. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 22&23: P-N Junction Capacitance; Contacts

    Online Presentations | 07 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

11. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 24: Narrow-base P-N Diode

    Online Presentations | 07 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

12. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 25: Intro to BJT

    Online Presentations | 07 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

13. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 26: Narrow-base BJT

    Online Presentations | 07 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

14. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 27: BJT Gain

    Online Presentations | 07 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

15. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 28&29: All Modes of BJT Operation

    Online Presentations | 02 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

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16. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 31: MOS Capacitor

    Online Presentations | 02 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

17. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 32: MOS Threshold Voltage

    Online Presentations | 02 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

18. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 34: MOS Field Effect Transistor (FET)

    Online Presentations | 02 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

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19. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 35: Short Channel MOSFET and Non-Ideal Behavior

    Online Presentations | 02 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

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20. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 36: MOSFET Scaling Limits

    Online Presentations | 02 Mar 2010 | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

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