Heo Su Jin, Shin Jeong Hee, Jun Byoung Ok, Jang Jae Eun
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu 42988, Republic of Korea.
Electronic Convergence Materials Center, Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology (KICET), Jinju 52851, Republic of Korea.
ACS Nano. 2023 Oct 24;17(20):19696-19708. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.3c02916. Epub 2023 Oct 6.
A nano vacuum tube which consists of a vacuum transistor and a nano vacuum chamber was demonstrated. For the device, a vacuum region is an electron transport channel, and a vacuum is a tunneling barrier. Tilted angle evaporation was studied for the formation of the nano level vacuum chamber structure. This vacuum tube was ultraminiaturized with several tens of 10 L scale volume and 10 Torr of pressure. The device structure made it possible to achieve a high integration density and to sustain the vacuum state in various real operations. In particular, the vacuum transistor performed stably in extreme external environments because the tunneling mechanism showed a wide range of working stability. The vacuum was sustained well by the sealing layer and provided a defect-free tunneling junction. In tests, the high vacuum level was maintained for more than 15 months with high reliability. The Al sealing layer and tube structure can effectively block exposed light such as visible light and UV, enabling the stable operation of the tunneling transistor. In addition, it is estimated that the structure blocks approximately 5 keV of X-ray. The device showed stable operating characteristics in a wide temperature range of 100-390 K. Therefore, the vacuum tube can be used in a wide range of applications involving integrated circuits while resolving the disadvantages of a large volume in old vacuum tubes. Additionally, it can be an important solution for next-generation devices in various fields such as aerospace, artificial intelligence, and THz applications.
展示了一种由真空晶体管和纳米真空腔组成的纳米真空管。对于该器件，真空区域是电子传输通道，而真空是隧道势垒。研究了倾斜角蒸发用于形成纳米级真空腔结构。该真空管被超小型化，体积达到几十纳升规模，压力为10托。这种器件结构使得实现高集成密度并在各种实际操作中维持真空状态成为可能。特别是，真空晶体管在极端外部环境中能稳定工作，因为隧道机制表现出广泛的工作稳定性。密封层能很好地维持真空，并提供无缺陷的隧道结。在测试中，高真空水平以高可靠性维持了超过15个月。铝密封层和管结构能有效阻挡可见光和紫外线等暴露光，使隧道晶体管能稳定工作。此外，据估计该结构能阻挡约5千电子伏特的X射线。该器件在100 - 390K的宽温度范围内表现出稳定的工作特性。因此，这种真空管可用于涉及集成电路的广泛应用，同时解决了老式真空管体积大的缺点。此外，它可能是航空航天、人工智能和太赫兹应用等各个领域下一代器件的重要解决方案。
