Researchers have created a multifunctional device made of 2D tungsten diselenide (WSe2). This single semiconductor device can improve device functionality and reduce fabrication complexity, providing an alternative to scaling down the device's dimensions.

In the semiconductor industry, researchers typically try to improve the speed and efficiency of devices by scaling down the device's dimensions in order to fit more transistors, in accordance with Moore's law. However, this ongoing race cannot exponentially increase forever.

In a new study published in Nanotechnology, a team of researchers at SUNY-Polytechnic Institute in Albany, New York, has suggested that combining multiple functions in a single semiconductor device can improve device functionality and reduce fabrication complexity.

To demonstrate, the researchers designed and fabricated a reconfigurable device that can morph into three fundamental semiconductor devices: a p-n diode, a MOSFET, and a bipolar junction transistor.

In their paper, the researchers detail how they were able to develop new doping strategies with the recently discovered tungsten diselenide (WSe2) transition metal.

While such devices would typically be fabricated individually on modern chips, each requiring complex integration step, here the multiple functions device relies on multiple buried gates to achieve n- and p-channels, in effect dynamically selecting which carriers flow at the surface of the semiconductor.

This novel reconfigurable doping technique means a single device can be architected so as to operate differently depending on how the gates are controlled.

In the future, the researchers plan to further investigate the applications of these multifunctional devices.