The future transistors

Abstract

The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), a core element of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, represents one of the most momentous inventions since the industrial revolution. Driven by the requirements for higher speed, energy efficiency and integration density of integrated-circuit products, in the past six decades the physical gate length of MOSFETs has been scaled to sub-20 nanometres. However, the downscaling of transistors while keeping the power consumption low is increasingly challenging, even for the state-of-the-art fin field-effect transistors. Here we present a comprehensive assessment of the existing and future CMOS technologies, and discuss the challenges and opportunities for the design of FETs with sub-10-nanometre gate length based on a hierarchical framework established for FET scaling. We focus our evaluation on identifying the most promising sub-10-nanometre-gate-length MOSFETs based on the knowledge derived from previous scaling efforts, as well as the research efforts needed to make the transistors relevant to future logic integrated-circuit products. We also detail our vision of beyond-MOSFET future transistors and potential innovation opportunities. We anticipate that innovations in transistor technologies will continue to have a central role in driving future materials, device physics and topology, heterogeneous vertical and lateral integration, and computing technologies.