Light-Effect Transistor (LET) with Multiple Independent Gating Controls for Optical Logic Gates and Optical Amplification

Frontiers in Physics

Zhou, Weilie¹  Zhang, Yong¹  Wang, Kai²  Rai, Satish C.³  Marmon, Jason K.⁴ 

[1] Advanced Materials Research Institute, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA;Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA;Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA;Nanoscale Science Program, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA

关键词: light-effect transistor;    Optical amplification;    optical logic;    Nanowires;    semiconductor nanostructures;    Cadmium selenide;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fphy.2016.00008

学科分类：物理（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Modern electronics are developing electronic-optical integrated circuits, while their electronic backbone, e.g. field-effect transistors (FETs), remains the same. However, further FET down scaling is facing physical and technical challenges. A light-effect transistor (LET) offers electronic-optical hybridization at the component level, which can continue Moore’s law to quantum region without requiring a FET’s fabrication complexity, e.g. physical gate and doping, by employing optical gating and photoconductivity. Multiple independent gates are therefore readily realized to achieve unique functionalities without increasing chip space. Here we report LET device characteristics and novel digital and analog applications, such as optical logic gates and optical amplification. Prototype CdSe-nanowire-based LETs show output and transfer characteristics resembling advanced FETs, e.g. on/off ratios up to ~1.0x106 with a source-drain voltage of ~1.43 V, gate-power of ~260 nW, and subthreshold swing of ~0.3 nW/decade (excluding losses). Our work offers new electronic-optical integration strategies and electronic and optical computing approaches.

【 授权许可】

CC BY