Integrated logic circuits using single-atom transistors

J. A. Mol, J. Verduijn, R. D. Levine, F. Remacle*, S. Rogge

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Scaling down the size of computing circuits is about to reach the limitations imposed by the discrete atomic structure of matter. Reducing the power requirements and thereby dissipation of integrated circuits is also essential. New paradigms are needed to sustain the rate of progress that society has become used to. Single-atom transistors, SATs, cascaded in a circuit are proposed as a promising route that is compatible with existing technology. We demonstrate the use of quantum degrees of freedom to perform logic operations in a complementary-metal - oxide - semiconductor device. Each SAT performs multilevel logic by electrically addressing the electronic states of a dopant atom. A single electron transistor decodes the physical multivalued output into the conventional binary output. A robust scalable circuit of two concatenated full adders is reported, where by utilizing charge and quantum degrees of freedom, the functionality of the transistor is pushed far beyond that of a simple switch.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13969-13972
Number of pages4
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume108
Issue number34
DOIs
StatePublished - 23 Aug 2011

Keywords

  • Cascading full adder
  • CMOS technology
  • Energy and charge quantization

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