New “semi-floating” gate makes for fast, low-power circuitry

After a long period during which the emphasis had been on building ever-faster computer circuits, things have shifted toward making them more energy-efficient. Some efficiency gains have come through small tweaks to the layout of the individual components, but most of the efficiency was a product of changes to the manufacturing process: new materials and ever-smaller features. Unfortunately, we're getting close to the point where shrinking the features of circuits any further will cause the inherent noise of quantum mechanics to start interfering with the chip's operations.

But that doesn't mean an end to potential improvements. A team of Chinese researchers have now described a new structure for the individual gates that control the flow of electrons within chips. Their design, which they're calling a semi-floating gate, switches states in as little as a nanosecond, and it requires very little power to operate.

The gates in electronics share a common design: they have a source of electrons and a drain for them connected by something that can be switched between two states: one that allows the current to flow between the source and drain and one where the current is blocked. Typically, the switch material has been a semiconductor that directly connects the source and the drain. A neighboring bit of material can switch the semiconductor between insulating and conducting, controlling the flow of electrons through the gate.