Emerging Nanoelectronic Devices

2What Constitutes a Nanoswitch? A Perspective

Supriyo Datta¹, Vinh Quang Diep¹, and Behtash Behin-Aein²

¹Purdue University, USA

²GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc., USA

2.1 The Search for a Better Switch

A basic element in digital logic is a switch or an inverter comprising a pair of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) nanotransistors (Figure 2.1a) whose resistances and change in a complementary manner in response to the input voltage V_in. As V_in changes from 0 to V_DD, the resistance of the “NMOS” transistor gets smaller while the resistance of the “PMOS” transistor gets larger making the output voltage

change from V_DD to 0 as shown in Figure 2.1b so that the output represents an inverted version of the input.

Figure 2.1 (a) CMOS inverter comprises an NMOS transistor (R₁) and a PMOS transistor (R₂). (b) Input–output characteristics of the inverter

For some time now it has been recognized ...