Silicon Nanoelectronics

The downscaling of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors is nearing the limit where there are simply too few electrons in a device's active region to prevent quantum fluctuation errors. Nanotechnology may provide novel devices to avoid the problem, such as single-electron devices, carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires, and new materials. Silicon nanodevices are particularly promising because of the existing silicon process, the infrastructure in semiconductor industries, and the compatibility of CMOS circuits and nearly perfect interface between the natural oxide and silicon. Japanese, US, and British electronic engineers summarize the current state of the field for students and engineers working in electronic devices, solid-state physics, nanotechnology, and related areas.