For decades, electronic devices have been getting smaller,
and smaller, and smaller. It’s now possible—even routine—to place millions of
transistors on a single silicon chip.
But transistors based on semiconductors can only get so
small. “At the rate the current technology is progressing, in 10 or 20 years, they
won’t be able to get any smaller,” said physicist Yoke Khin Yap of Michigan
Technological University. “Also, semiconductors have another disadvantage: they
waste a lot of energy in the form of heat.”
Scientists have experimented with different materials and
designs for transistors to address these issues, always using semiconductors
like silicon. Back in 2007, Yap wanted to try something different that might
open the door to a new age of electronics.