Terahertz Transistor

Case ID:
UA16-205
Invention:

This transistor works in the Terahertz range that modulates the bridge's conductivity in a nonlinear manner. It is a likely candidate for replacing silicon in superconducting transistors running at higher frequencies without the heating and power issues of silicon as well as advantages over III-V and spintronic technologies with both of these issues.

 

Background:
The Terahertz operation of mainstream silicon CMOS technology is very challenging from the perspective of power consumption and fabrication techniques as Moore's law pushes technology forward. Now, High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMT) and Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBT) have been fabricated using III-V materials in place of silicon and show promise at high frequency operation.

 

Applications:

  • Quantum computing
  • Replacing Si transistors on chips for high-speed computing
  • Military/intelligence communications
  • Radar/sonar applications
  • Medical imaging
  • A safe alternative to x-rays and security imaging
  • High altitude communications
  • Satellite-to-satellite communications
  • Indoor wireless communications


Advantages:

  • The normal gate of silicon transistor is replaced by an oscillating magnetic field that modulates the bridge's conductivity similar to a Field Effect Transistor
  • New design could create signal sources and amplifiers that operate near THz frequencies
  • Overcomes existing limitations of power and heat generation for the creation of quantum computing devices


Status: issued U.S. patent #10,636,955

Patent Information:
Contact For More Information:
Jonathan Larson
Senior Licensing Manager, College of Science
The University of Arizona
jonathanlarson@arizona.edu
Lead Inventor(s):
Christopher Walker
Keywords: