Nanostructure-based vacuum channel transistor

摘要

A vacuum field effect, nanostructure-based transistor (VFET) that operates at pressures as high as 101 kPa, with an operating voltage magnitude as low as about 2 Volts and has a cutoff frequency as high as 0.46 THz, and has an electrode separation gap distance of about 150 nm or less.

主权项

1. A method for producing a vacuum field effect transistor, the method comprising:
providing first and second electrodes, approximately parallel, having lengths, Le1 and Le2, no greater than about 25 nm and 25 nm, respectively, and being separated by a positive gap distance d12 that is no greater than about 150 nm, where each of the first and second electrodes is produced by plasma ashing of a line of photoresist having a selected line length no greater than about 20 nm, and where the first and second electrodes have a voltage difference V12 that is non-zero and is no greater than about 10 Volts; positioning an insulator gate, having a width wg that is no greater than about d12/2 and having a gate length Lg greater than a maximum of Le1 and Le2, between the first and second electrodes, where the gate is separated by an approximately equal distance from the first and second electrodes; providing the gate with a variable gate voltage Vg that can be controllably varied between Vg(min)<2 Volts and Vg(max)>2 Volts; and operating the first and second electrodes and the gate in an inert gas at a pressure up to about 101 kPa.