Tunnel FET Technology

The scientists have claimed that by 2017, a quantum phenomenon known as the tunnel effect will help reduce energy consumption of consumer electronics, such as computers and cellular phones, by up to 100 times less than now. This revolution comes in the form of Tunnel-FET technology that is built up upon a phenomenon referred to as “quantum tunnelling.”

What is the current technology?

Today’s computers have no less than a billion transistors in the CPU alone. These small switches that turn on and off provide the famous binary instructions, the 0s and 1s that let us send emails, watch videos, move the mouse pointer, and much more. The technology used in today’s transistors is called “field effect” whereby voltage induces an electron channel that activates the transistor. But field effect technology is approaching its limits, particularly in terms of power consumption.

What are Principles behind Tunnel FET technology?

Tunnel-FET technology is based on a fundamentally different principle. In the transistor, two chambers are separated by an energy barrier. In the first, a horde of electrons awaits while the transistor is deactivated. When voltage is applied, they cross the energy barrier and move into the second chamber, activating the transistor in so doing.In the past, the tunnel effect was known to disrupt the operation of transistors. According to quantum theory, some electrons cross the barrier, even if they apparently don’t have enough energy to do so. By reducing the width of this barrier, it becomes possible to amplify and take advantage of the quantum effect – the energy needed for the electrons to cross the barrier is drastically reduced, as is power consumption in standby mode. By replacing the principle of the conventional field effect transistor by the tunnel effect, one can reduce the voltage of transistors from 1 volt to 0.2 volts. In practical terms, this decrease in electrical tension will reduce power consumption by up to a factor of 100.