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Smaller, faster, smarter: Chinese transistor ready for future AI chips
Breakthrough said to overcome long-standing limitations of traditional ferroelectric transistors, ‘paving way for large-scale application’
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Zhang Tongin Beijing
A team of Chinese scientists has unveiled the world’s smallest and most energy-efficient transistor in a breakthrough poised to anchor the next generation of high-performance AI hardware.
The researchers achieved the feat in ferroelectric transistors (FeFETs), which function similarly to neurons in the human brain as they integrate memory and processing in a single unit, thereby reducing the time lost in data transfer.
In conventional semiconductor chips, data storage and computation occur in separate areas, creating efficiency bottlenecks for communication “across the wall”.
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According to Qiu Chenguang of Peking University, the “in-memory computing capability of FeFETs aligns closely with the future evolution of AI chips”.
“The industry views them as one of the most promising devices for enabling brain-inspired neuromorphic computing,” Qiu told Science and Technology Daily, the official ministry newspaper.
Qiu, with Peng Lianmao, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led the team that developed the world’s smallest and most energy-efficient ferroelectric transistor. Their work was published this month in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.
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