A nanoscale device consisting of a metal nanowire, a dielectric, and a gate is proposed. A combination of quantum and thermal stochastic effects enable the device to have multiple functionalities, serving alternately as a transistor, a variable resistor, or a simple resistive element with I−V characteristics that can switch between ohmic and non-ohmic. By manipulating the gate voltage, stochastic transitions between different conducting states of the nanowire can be induced, with a switching time as short as picoseconds. With an appropriate choice of dielectric, the transconductance of the device can significantly exceed the conductance quantum G0=2e2/h, a remarkable figure of merit for a device at this lengthscale.
@article{arxiv.1009.0559,
title = {A nanoscale transistor based on gate-induced stochastic transitions},
author = {J. Bürki and C. A. Stafford and D. L. Stein},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1009.0559},
year = {2010}
}