High-speed transistor channel developed using a core-shell nanowire structure
A research group led by Naoki Fukata, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), and a research group at Georgia Institute of Technology jointly developed a double-layered nanowire, consisting of a germanium (Ge) core and a silicon (Si) shell, which is a promising material for high-speed transistor channels. In addition, the groups verified that the Si layer, which was doped with impurities, and the Ge layer, which transports carriers, were not intermixed, and that carriers were generated in the Ge layer. These results suggest that the new nanowire may effectively suppress the scattering of impurities, which had been a problem with conventional nanowires, thereby taking a major step toward the realization of a next-generation high-speed transistor.
