China claims to develop world's smallest, most efficient transistor

Researchers at Peking University in China have developed the world’s smallest and most energy-efficient ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs), which hold promise for powering future artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Unlike conventional silicon-based chips that separate data storage and processing—leading to inefficiencies in energy and speed—these FeFETs integrate both functions in a single unit, mimicking the human brain’s architecture. This integration reduces the need to transfer data back and forth, thereby saving time and energy, which is critical given the rising demand for AI applications that process massive amounts of data. The key innovation by researchers Qiu Chenguang and Peng Lianmao involved scaling down the transistor’s gate electrode to just one nanometer, smaller than the width of a DNA molecule, using advanced fabrication techniques. This atomic-scale precision allowed the transistor to operate at a significantly lower voltage of 0.6V—compared to the typical 1.5V for FeFETs—result