Multigate FET technology creates faster, more efficient ICs

Is there any limit to how small circuits can get. It seems that whenever there is an obstacle a solution is found.

Source: Electronic Products

“Addressing the challenges in ever-shrinking ICs of maintaining functionality while consuming less energy in a smaller space, researchers at semiconductor solutions provider Infineon (Munich, Germany) have developed what is presented as the first complex circuit fabricated using 65-nm multigate FET (MGFET) technology. With a footprint approximately 30% smaller than devices using current single-gate technology, the new transistors have quiescent current a factor of 10 lower with the same functions and performance.

Fabricated in three dimensions using conventional manufacturing processes and materials, the gate electrode of the transistor encloses the depletion potential barrier on several sides (multigates), thus offering three times the contact surface to ensure that the transistor can be really switched off. The MGFET prototype created contains more than 3,000 active transistors and is as powerful as today’s mature technologies, but consumes as little as half as much energy.”