Beyond CMOS
Beyond CMOS refers to the possible future digital logic technologies beyond the scaling limits of CMOS technology. which limits device density and speeds due to heating effects.
Beyond CMOS is the name of one of the 7 focus groups in ITRS 2.0 and in its successor, the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems.
CPUs using CMOS were released from 1986. As CMOS transistor dimensions were shrunk the clock speeds also increased. Since about 2004 CMOS CPU clock speeds have leveled off at about 3.5 GHz.
CMOS devices sizes continue to shrink – see Intel's process–architecture–optimization model and International [Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors|ITRS]:
- 22 nanometer Ivy Bridge in 2012
- first 14 nanometer processors shipped in Q4 2014.
- In May 2015, Samsung Electronics showed a 300 mm wafer of 10 nanometer FinFET chips.
Comparisons of technology
About 2010 the Nanoelectronic Research Initiative studied various circuits in various technologies.Nikonov benchmarked many technologies in 2012, and updated it in 2014. The 2014 benchmarking included 11 electronic, 8 spintronic, 3 orbitronic, 2 ferroelectric, and 1 straintronics technology.
The 2015 ITRS 2.0 report included a detailed chapter on Beyond CMOS, covering RAM and logic gates.
Some areas of investigation
- Magneto-electric spin-orbit logic
- Tunnel junction devices, e.g. tunnel field-effect transistor
- Indium antimonide transistors
- Carbon nanotube FET, e.g. CNT tunnel field-effect transistor
- Graphene nanoribbons
- Molecular electronics
- Spintronics — many variants
- ARC [Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies|Future low-energy electronics technologies], ultra-low dissipation conduction paths, including:
- *Topological materials
- *Exciton superfluids
- Photonics and optical computing
- Superconducting computing
- * Rapid single-flux quantum