Efficient mosfets developed with alternative semiconductor material

An employee of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has managed to improve the characteristics of mosfets with alternative semiconductor material. He replaced silicon with gallium nitride.

Mosfets switch electronic signals and are used in a wide variety of devices, including computer equipment such as motherboards. In a regular metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor, the role of the metal is usually filled by silicon. An alternative semiconductor material, gallium nitride, has electrical properties that make it very suitable for applications involving high currents and high frequencies. So far, however, the material has not been used in mosfets, but GaN transistors have been used in amplifiers and laser diodes, among other things. Weixiao Huang, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, replaced however, the silicon commonly used in mosfets was replaced by gallium nitride and thus developed more efficient transistors.

According to Huang, the ‘ganmosfets’ would lose less energy when switching currents and the transistors themselves would function under more extreme conditions. The new type of transistor would be able to withstand higher temperatures than its silicon-based predecessor, and chips with the ganmosfets could be smaller and use less energy. Moreover, the semiconductor material could provide far-reaching integration of components on a chip, according to Huang, who received his doctorate on 17 May. The mosfets made with gallium nitride must find their way into a wide spectrum of electronics: the transistors are often used in transformers, among other things.