Editing Moore's law (section)

=== Alternative materials research ===
The vast majority of current transistors on ICs are composed principally of [[Doping (semiconductor)|doped]] silicon and its alloys. As silicon is fabricated into single nanometer transistors, [[short-channel effect]]s adversely changes desired material properties of silicon as a functional transistor. Below are several non-silicon substitutes in the fabrication of small nanometer transistors.

One proposed material is [[Indium gallium arsenide#Applications|indium gallium arsenide]], or InGaAs. Compared to their silicon and germanium counterparts, InGaAs transistors are more promising for future high-speed, low-power logic applications. Because of intrinsic characteristics of [[List of semiconductor materials#Compound semiconductors|III–V compound semiconductors]], quantum well and [[tunnel field-effect transistor|tunnel]] effect transistors based on InGaAs have been proposed as alternatives to more traditional MOSFET designs.
* In the early 2000s, the [[atomic layer deposition]] [[high-κ]] [[thin film|film]] and pitch [[double patterning|double-patterning]] processes were invented by [[Gurtej Singh Sandhu]] at [[Micron Technology]], extending Moore's law for planar CMOS technology to [[32 nanometer|30&nbsp;nm]] class and smaller.
* In 2009, Intel announced the development of 80&nbsp;nm InGaAs [[quantum well]] transistors. Quantum well devices contain a material sandwiched between two layers of material with a wider band gap. Despite being double the size of leading pure silicon transistors at the time, the company reported that they performed equally as well while consuming less power.<ref>{{cite book |pages=1–4 |publisher=IEEE |date=2009-12-07 |first1 = G. | last1 = Dewey |first2 = R. |last2 = Kotlyar |first3 = R. |last3 = Pillarisetty |first4 = M. |last4 = Radosavljevic |first5 = T. |last5 = Rakshit |first6 = H. |last6 = Then |first7 = R. |last7 = Chau|title=2009 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) |chapter=Logic performance evaluation and transport physics of Schottky-gate III&ndash;V compound semiconductor quantum well field effect transistors for power supply voltages (V<sub>CC</sub>) ranging from 0.5v to 1.0v |doi=10.1109/IEDM.2009.5424314 |isbn=978-1-4244-5639-0 |s2cid=41734511 }}</ref>
* In 2011, researchers at Intel demonstrated 3-D [[Multigate device#Types|tri-gate]] InGaAs transistors with improved leakage characteristics compared to traditional planar designs. The company claims that their design achieved the best electrostatics of any III–V compound semiconductor transistor.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors = Radosavljevic R, etal |title=2011 International Electron Devices Meeting |chapter=Electrostatics improvement in 3-D tri-gate over ultra-thin body planar InGaAs quantum well field effect transistors with high-K gate dielectric and scaled gate-to-drain/Gate-to-source separation |pages=33.1.1–33.1.4 |publisher=IEEE |date=2011-12-05 |doi=10.1109/IEDM.2011.6131661 |isbn=978-1-4577-0505-2 |s2cid=37889140 }}</ref> At the 2015 [[International Solid-State Circuits Conference]], Intel mentioned the use of III–V compounds based on such an architecture for their 7&nbsp;nm node.<ref>{{cite news |title=Intel at ISSCC 2015: Reaping the Benefits of 14nm and Going Beyond 10nm |publisher=Anandtech |date=2015-02-22 |access-date=2016-08-15 |url=http://www.anandtech.com/show/8991/intel-at-isscc-2015-reaping-the-benefits-of-14nm-and-going-beyond-10nm |first = Ian | last = Cutress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Intel forges ahead to 10nm, will move away from silicon at 7nm |website=Ars Technica |date=2015-02-23 |access-date=2016-08-15 |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/intel-forges-ahead-to-10nm-will-move-away-from-silicon-at-7nm/ |first = Sebastian | last = Anthony}}</ref>
* In 2011, researchers at the [[University of Texas at Austin]] developed an InGaAs tunneling field-effect transistors capable of higher operating currents than previous designs. The first III–V TFET designs were demonstrated in 2009 by a joint team from [[Cornell University]] and [[Pennsylvania State University]].<ref>{{cite news |title=InGaAs tunnel FET with ON current increased by 61% |publisher=Semiconductor Today |volume = 6 |issue = 6 |date=April{{ndash}}May 2011 |access-date=2016-08-15 |url=http://www.semiconductor-today.com/features/PDF/SemiconductorToday_AprMay2011_InGaAsFET.pdf |first = Mike |last = Cooke}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Zhao |first=Han |display-authors=etal |date=2011-02-28 |title=Improving the on-current of In0.7Ga0.3As tunneling field-effect-transistors by p++/n+ tunneling junction |journal=Applied Physics Letters |volume=98 |issue=9 |pages=093501 |bibcode=2011ApPhL..98i3501Z |doi=10.1063/1.3559607}}</ref>
* In 2012, a team in MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories developed a 22&nbsp;nm transistor based on InGaAs that, at the time, was the smallest non-silicon transistor ever built. The team used techniques used in silicon device fabrication and aimed for better electrical performance and a reduction to [[10 nanometer|10-nanometer]] scale.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tiny compound semiconductor transistor could challenge silicon's dominance |publisher=MIT News  |date=2012-10-12 |access-date=2016-08-15 |url=https://news.mit.edu/2012/tiny-compound-semiconductor-transistor-could-challenge-silicons-dominance-1210 |first = Helen| last = Knight}}</ref>

[[Biological computing]] research shows that biological material has superior information density and energy efficiency compared to silicon-based computing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cavin |first1=R. K. |last2=Lugli |first2=P. |last3=Zhirnov |first3=V. V. |date=2012-05-01 |title=Science and Engineering Beyond Moore's Law |journal=Proceedings of the IEEE |volume=100 |issue=Special Centennial Issue |pages=1720–1749 |doi=10.1109/JPROC.2012.2190155 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:Graphene SPM.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Scanning probe microscopy]] image of graphene in its hexagonal lattice structure |alt=refer to caption]]
Various forms of [[graphene]] are being studied for [[graphene electronics]], e.g. [[graphene nanoribbon]] [[graphene transistor|transistors]] have shown promise since its appearance in publications in 2008. (Bulk graphene has a [[band gap]] of zero and thus cannot be used in transistors because of its constant conductivity, an inability to turn off. The zigzag edges of the nanoribbons introduce localized energy states in the conduction and valence bands and thus a bandgap that enables switching when fabricated as a transistor. As an example, a typical GNR of width of 10&nbsp;nm has a desirable bandgap energy of 0.4&nbsp;eV.<ref name="nature 2007"/><ref>{{cite conference |last=Schwierz |first=Frank |date=1–4 November 2011 |title=Graphene Transistors – A New Contender for Future Electronics |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5667602 |url-access=subscription |conference=10th IEEE International Conference 2010: Solid-State and Integrated Circuit Technology (ICSICT) |location=Shanghai |doi=10.1109/ICSICT.2010.5667602 <!--|access-date=2016-08-15-->}}</ref>) More research will need to be performed, however, on sub-50&nbsp;nm graphene layers, as its resistivity value increases and thus electron mobility decreases.<ref name="nature 2007">{{cite journal |last1=Avouris |first1=Phaedon |last2=Chen |first2=Zhihong |author2-link=Zhihong Chen |last3=Perebeinos |first3=Vasili |date=2007-09-30 |title=Carbon-based electronics |url=http://physics.oregonstate.edu/~tatej/COURSES/ph575/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=avouris_review_nnano.2007.300.pdf |journal=Nature Nanotechnology |volume=2 |issue=10 |pages=605–615 |bibcode=2007NatNa...2..605A |doi=10.1038/nnano.2007.300 |pmid=18654384 |access-date=2016-08-15}}</ref>