Scientists have created ultra-thin MOSFETs - transistors withstanding a voltage of 8 kV

A research team from the University of Buffalo has designed a completely new form of power MOSFET - a transistor that can handle enormous voltages with absolutely minimal thickness. Let's find out about this discovery in more detail.

What are MOSFETs - transistors

Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors known as MOSFETs are very common components in almost all types of electronics (especially common in electric cars). They are specially designed to switch off and on a powerful load.

In fact, such transistors are three-pin flat electronic switches that are voltage controlled. So when the required voltage is applied to the gate terminal (the value of which is usually small), it forms a chain between the other two terminals.

This is how the chain is formed. Moreover, the process of turning off and on can take a split second.

What is the peculiarity of the new MOSFET - transistor

A Buffalo-based engineering team has created a gallium oxide transistor through numerous experiments. At the same time, the new transistor turned out to be thin as a sheet of paper and at the same time capable of withstanding very high voltages.

At the same time, having performed "passivation" with a layer SU-8 an ordinary polymer based on an ordinary resin, a gallium oxide transistor withstood a voltage of more than 8,000 volts. Further increase in voltage led to its breakdown.

In this case, the withstand voltage is significantly higher than the voltage of transistors based on silicon carbide or gallium nitride.

This increase in voltage became possible due to the fact that the gallium oxide used in the new transistor has a bandgap of 4.8 electron volts.

For comparison, silicon (the most common material in power electronics) has this figure of 1.1 electron volts, silicon carbide 3.4 electron volts, and gallium nitride 3.3 electron volts.

What are the prospects for invention

Using a MOSFET - a transistor of minimum thickness that can withstand high voltage can be the impetus for the creation of much more compact and even more efficient power electronics in absolutely all areas.

Of course, the new transistor is still far from full-fledged commercial use and will undergo many new laboratory tests, but the very existence of a working prototype gives hope.

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