Quantum tunnelling

Nanolithography

Metal

Quantum mechanics

Voltage

Engineering

Fabrication

Field electron emission

Metallurgy

Materials science

Semiconductor

Alternative medicine

Transistor

Physics

Nanotechnology

Nanoelectronics

Field-effect transistor

Medicine

Channel (broadcasting)

Electron

Optoelectronics

Electrical engineering

Pathology

Engineering physics

Nano Letters

Scattering-free transport in vacuum tubes has always been superior to solid-state transistors. It is the advanced fabrication with mass production capability at low cost which drove solid-state nanoelectronics. Here, we combine the best of vacuum tubes with advanced nanofabrication technology. We present nanoscale, metal-based, field emission air channel transistors. Comparative analysis of tungsten-, gold-, and platinum-based devices is presented. Devices are fabricated with electron beam lithography, achieving channel lengths less than 35 nm. With this small channel length, vacuum-like carrier transport is possible in air under room temperature and pressure. Source and drain electrodes have planar, symmetric, and sharp geometry. Because of this, devices operate in bidirection with voltages <2 V and current values in few tens of nanoamperes range. The experimental data shows that influential operation mechanism is Fowler–Nordheim tunnelling in tungsten and gold devices, while Schottky emission in platinum device. The presented work enables a technology where metal-based switchable nanoelectronics can be created on any dielectric surface with low energy requirements.

Metal–Air Transistors: Semiconductor-Free Field-Emission Air-Channel Nanoelectronics