"" New Breakthrough in Transistor Tech
TSMC and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University have achieved a significant breakthrough in transistor technology, creating an ultrathin transistor that could extend chip scaling beyond silicon's physical limits. The research team fabricated a monolayer MoS₂ top-gate transistor featuring an epitaxial interface layer just 0.42 nanometers thick.
Key Findings
The resulting transistors demonstrated low leakage current and minimal hysteresis, with a maximum transconductance of 0.45 mS/μm. This achievement aligns with broader industry efforts to make 2D transistors production-ready, with major players in chipmaking infrastructure, including TSMC, imec, and ASML, announcing similar work in June 2026.
Background
Silicon has been the backbone of the semiconductor industry for decades, but it's running into a wall. Atoms are only so small, and silicon transistors are approaching the point where physics starts saying "no." The TSMC-NYCU team's solution was elegant: depositing an ultrathin epitaxial aluminum layer onto a monolayer of MoS₂ grown via chemical vapor deposition, then oxidizing it to create a buffer of aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃).
Implications
The combined stack achieved an equivalent oxide thickness of approximately 1 nm, a critical benchmark for next-generation semiconductor devices. This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize the way we design and manufacture chips, enabling the creation of smaller, faster, and more powerful devices.
Authors
The research was published in Nature Electronics and was led by Dr. Iuliana Radu from TSMC Corporate Research, alongside NYCU professors Wen-Hao Chang and Tsung-En Lee.
