Transistors as we know them appear to be in for a big change, at least if the latest development by researchers at TU Wien has anything to say about it. The group of researchers have developed what they call an adaptive transistor, or in other words, a transistor that can do more than hold a 0 or a 1. This has huge implications and although they’re currently at a very early stage, the working proof of concept could allow for a whole new range of applications for microchips.
It would appear that the new transistors are tricky to manufacture, based on the explanation by the researchers "We connect two electrodes with an extremely thin wire made of germanium, via extremely clean high-quality interfaces. Above the germanium segment, we place a gate electrode like the ones found in conventional transistors. What is decisive is that our transistor features a further control electrode, which is placed on the interfaces between germanium and metal. It can dynamically program the function of the transistor". The researchers are confident that this should be fairly straightforward to overcome, especially as their transistor doesn’t require any "doping", something that is common with more complex transistors today.
