Atom/ion movement controlled three-terminal atomic switch, ‘Atom Transistor’

Atomic switch is a nanoionic-device that controls the diffusion of metal ions/atoms and their reduction/oxidation processes in the switching operation to form/annihilate a conductive path [1-3]. Since metal atoms can provide a highly conductive channel even if their cluster size is in the nanometer scale, atomic switches may enable downscaling to smaller than the 11 nm technology node, which is a great challenge for semiconductor devices. Atomic switches also possess novel characteristics, such as high on/off ratios, very low power consumption and non-volatility. Although two-terminal devices work as logic devices such as the crossbar circuit, three-terminal devices, in which signal line and control line are separated, are advantageous for the logic applications.