MARK LUNDSTROM: Hi.
I'm Mark Lundstrom.
And I'd like to tell you a little bit about this course on nanotransistors
that we're developing.
Transistors are the basic building blocks of all electronic systems.
They're everywhere.
There are billions of them in these devices that we carry around.
And when we fire up an app, and do a Google search, or whatever,
there are many more billions that are doing the work out in the cloud.
So they're an important device.
They've really shaped the modern world.
And they're also fascinating from a scientific perspective.
This is what a transistor looks like.
This is a cross-sectional electron micrograph.
It's built on a piece of silicon.
There are three main components, a source, a drain,
and a gate that controls the flow of electrons from the source to the drain.
When we switch the device on, electrons flow from the source to the drain
and out the external lead.
The first objective of this course is to understand the physical operation
of these devices, the flow of electrons and holes inside the transistor.
The second objective of this course is to relate
what goes on the inside to the voltages that we apply to the terminals
and to the currents that flow through those
leads, to understand why the IV characteristics have
this particular shape, and what makes a particular characteristic
useful from an application perspective, and to relate all of that back to what
goes on inside the transistor.
Now, what I think is most interesting about this course
is the flow of electrons in these incredibly small structures.
The first transistors were made with gaps between the source and the drain,
or channels, that were 10,000 nanometers long.
My first job was working on 5,000 nanometer technology.
Today's technology is 20 nanometers.
We're talking already about five nanometer technology.
So the dimensions of these transistors have shrunk to incredibly small sizes.
This has forced us to rethink our understanding about how electrons
flow in these very small structures.
Now, there was a good deal of fundamental scientific work
that went on in the last decade or so of the 20th century where scientists
produced very small structures and learned
how to understand current flow at the nano and molecular scale.
We had to do things like rethink what Ohm's law means at the nano scale.
The result of this work was a new understanding
of electron flow in very small structures,
a very simple, elegant, and physically sound way to think about current flow
at the smallest dimensions.
And it is time, now, to bring that new insight, and understanding, and ways
of thinking to this very practical and important device.
So this is a course that is designed both for people
who know something about transistors and for people who are new to transistors.
The first half of the course reviews some fundamentals
and some concepts that haven't changed a lot
but that continue to be very important.
The really unique part of the class is the second half,
where we bring these new ways of thinking
about current flow in nanostructures to this very important device.
So it's an opportunity to see how some fascinating nanophysics plays out
in the context of a very practical and very important device.
So if you're interested in learning more, I hope to see you in the course.
I'll look forward to seeing you there.
Thank you.