Researchers with Purdue University have reached a milestone in an attempt to design the next-generation transistor, which could allow for a life extension for silicon-based semiconductors. The new design, entitled CasFET (Cascade Field Effect Transistor) is yet another step on the road of transistor miniaturization, allowing for lower switching voltages, lower power consumption, and denser designs.
Tillman Kubis, the Katherine Ngai Pesic and Silvaco Research Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering with Purdue, said this research comes in the face of increased difficulty in transistor miniaturization, which has seen increased technical difficulties and ballooning costs in recent years.
“They [transistors] need a high enough ON-current and low enough OFF-current, with a small enough difference to switch between both,” Kubis said. “These challenges have significantly slowed the downscaling of transistors around the last eight years, making it increasingly difficult to introduce more powerful CPU generations.” One of the more recognizable cases of this difficulty was Intel’s transition to 10nm and 7nm processes, which saw a number of delays that have helped AMD’s “unzenly” resurgence in the CPU space.
