Smaller chips, faster computers, less energy
consumption. Novel concepts based on semiconductor nanowires are
expected to make transistors in microelectronic circuits better and
more efficient. Electron mobility plays a key role in this: The
faster electrons can accelerate in these tiny wires, the faster a
transistor can switch and the less energy it requires. A team of
researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR),
the TU Dresden and NaMLab has now succeeded in experimentally
demonstrating that electron mobility in nanowires is remarkably
enhanced when the shell places the wire core under tensile strain.
This phenomenon offers novel opportunities for the development of
ultrafast transistors.
