Emerging Reconfigurable Devices

With classical CMOS transistor scaling according to Dennard’s law running out of steam, new ways to increase the functionality of an integrated circuit within a given footprint are becoming increasingly desirable. A promising concept in this regard is the monolithic co-integration of emerging technologies with CMOS to increase a system’s functionality without scaling of the individual feature sizes. The focus of our work is thereby on novel transistor technologies utilizing CMOS-compatible material systems.

A main focus of the group is the polarity-controllable reconfigurable field-effect transistor (RFET), which is a Schottky barrier-based electronic device whose conduction mechanism can be reversibly switched between n-type and p-type operation modes. Unlike classical MOSFETs, the benefit of these devices is evident only at the circuit level, e.g., by combining multiple functions into a single polymorphic logic gate. Beyond RFETs, junctionless transistors, ferroelectric transistors, and resonant tunneling devices are also currently under investigation.

Our competences thereby cover the entire value chain, from material and device engineering, electrical characterization, reliability, TCAD and Verilog-A modelling, to the design and layout of functionality-enhanced circuits. Target application domains include low-power edge computing and artificial intelligence, smart analog sensors, and hardware security, as well as cryo- and quantum electronics.