Scientists are investigating different potential materials for future nodes, but development is slow.
The issue of channel management in greatly scaled transistors has gained prominence in recent years, and 2D semiconductors have emerged as a major possible solution. It is expected that the channel thickness would also decrease in tandem with the size of the device. The current flow can only be regulated if the gate capacitance is sufficiently big. Traps and interface flaws reduce carrier mobility, especially in channels with small cross-sections. Approximately 3 nm is the apparent upper bound for silicon channel thickness.
Although 2018’s record-breaking $414 billion in sales of semiconductors was surpassed by 2019’s $412 billion, the sector remained robust, with businesses in the United States accounting for roughly half of the market. The semiconductor industry associated with artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to increase from its 2019 sales of $6 billion to more than $30 billion by 2022, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 50%.
Developing Better Device Structures
As a film thickens, molecules entering it tend to arrange themselves in the most energetically stable arrangement. When it comes to MoS2, there isn’t much difference between depositing on a pristine surface or sapphire. Consequently, multi-layer MoS2 island structures can emerge even before the layer in contact with the substrate is fully grown. These islands are reactive due to hanging bonds at their margins. With a post-deposition Cl2 etch, Shi’s Imec team was able to selectively eliminate growth islands by making use of edge reactivity. The surface roughness and thickness homogeneity of MOCVD films produced on sapphire were enhanced by island removal.
TMD transistors, like silicon devices of the future, could require many stacked channels to transport adequate current.
Back gate designs, in which the gate metal and gate oxide are deposited on a silicon substrate before the MoS2 layer is added, are responsible for the highest performance in modern MoS2 devices. This method results in much-improved device performance, yet top-gate devices are ultimately more scalable. Similar to gate-all-around silicon transistors, two gates with complementary capacitance at the top and bottom will provide superior channel control.
The methods for fabricating freestanding MoS2 films have advanced so that sufficient quantities of devices may be manufactured. The reporting of statistics for thousands of devices is already commonplace among researchers; this is necessary for any procedure to scale. Those thousands of gadgets still need to be up to the standards set by silicon.
Main Technologies that Will Drive the Industry
The semiconductor business is a byword for rapid technical advancement, but the constant technological revolution in daily things keeps it on its toes in terms of finding solutions that improve performance, boost productivity, and cut down on overhead expenses. As the semiconductor industry shifts its focus toward solutions, reducing product launch times has become a top priority.
Memory chips and other semiconductors are important to any endeavor in the field of new technology. The semiconductor industry has explored every conceivable market, from the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) to smartphones powered by artificial intelligence (5G) or the automobile industry (automotive sector). The chip, also known as semiconductors, powers technology that improves people’s daily lives and the efficiency, productivity, and velocity with which organizations operate.
In Conclusion
The future of 2D semiconductors is, at best, uncertain. Although there has been much development in material growth and contact fabrication recently, devices that can compete with cutting-edge silicon have yet to be proven. If and when they do appear, they will certainly use components and techniques not used in conventional fabs.
