A Nano-Transistor Based on Gate-Induced Thermal Switching

A nanoscale device consisting of a metal nanowire, a dielectric, and a gate is proposed.A combination of quantum and thermal stochastic effects enables the device to have multiple functionalities, serving alternately as a transistor, a variable resistor, or a simple resistive element with changeable I-V characteristics.By manipulating the gate voltage, stochastic transitions between different conducting states of the nanowire can be induced, with a switching time as short as picoseconds.With an appropriate choice of dielectric, the transconductance of the device can significantly exceed the conductance quantum, a remarkable figure of merit for a device at this lengthscale.