Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • MARK LUNDSTROM: Hi.

  • I'm Mark Lundstrom.

  • And I'd like to tell you a little bit about this course on nanotransistors

  • that we're developing.

  • Transistors are the basic building blocks of all electronic systems.

  • They're everywhere.

  • There are billions of them in these devices that we carry around.

  • And when we fire up an app, and do a Google search, or whatever,

  • there are many more billions that are doing the work out in the cloud.

  • So they're an important device.

  • They've really shaped the modern world.

  • And they're also fascinating from a scientific perspective.

  • This is what a transistor looks like.

  • This is a cross-sectional electron micrograph.

  • It's built on a piece of silicon.

  • There are three main components, a source, a drain,

  • and a gate that controls the flow of electrons from the source to the drain.

  • When we switch the device on, electrons flow from the source to the drain

  • and out the external lead.

  • The first objective of this course is to understand the physical operation

  • of these devices, the flow of electrons and holes inside the transistor.

  • The second objective of this course is to relate

  • what goes on the inside to the voltages that we apply to the terminals

  • and to the currents that flow through those

  • leads, to understand why the IV characteristics have

  • this particular shape, and what makes a particular characteristic

  • useful from an application perspective, and to relate all of that back to what

  • goes on inside the transistor.

  • Now, what I think is most interesting about this course

  • is the flow of electrons in these incredibly small structures.

  • The first transistors were made with gaps between the source and the drain,

  • or channels, that were 10,000 nanometers long.

  • My first job was working on 5,000 nanometer technology.

  • Today's technology is 20 nanometers.

  • We're talking already about five nanometer technology.

  • So the dimensions of these transistors have shrunk to incredibly small sizes.

  • This has forced us to rethink our understanding about how electrons

  • flow in these very small structures.

  • Now, there was a good deal of fundamental scientific work

  • that went on in the last decade or so of the 20th century where scientists

  • produced very small structures and learned

  • how to understand current flow at the nano and molecular scale.

  • We had to do things like rethink what Ohm's law means at the nano scale.

  • The result of this work was a new understanding

  • of electron flow in very small structures,

  • a very simple, elegant, and physically sound way to think about current flow

  • at the smallest dimensions.

  • And it is time, now, to bring that new insight, and understanding, and ways

  • of thinking to this very practical and important device.

  • So this is a course that is designed both for people

  • who know something about transistors and for people who are new to transistors.

  • The first half of the course reviews some fundamentals

  • and some concepts that haven't changed a lot

  • but that continue to be very important.

  • The really unique part of the class is the second half,

  • where we bring these new ways of thinking

  • about current flow in nanostructures to this very important device.

  • So it's an opportunity to see how some fascinating nanophysics plays out

  • in the context of a very practical and very important device.

  • So if you're interested in learning more, I hope to see you in the course.

  • I'll look forward to seeing you there.

  • Thank you.

MARK LUNDSTROM: Hi.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it