Dongguk University’s Quantum Functional Semiconductor Research Center (Director: Kim Deuk-Young) has developed a new-concept quantum device that enables logic of various multi-valued electronic information with one transistor. The center is a research institute that has been selected for the “University Priority Research Institute Support Project” by the Ministry of Education and is conducting the “Next-generation Quantum-Nano Structure Semiconductor Micro Information Device Research.”
Lee Se-Joon, professor at the College of Physical and Semiconductor Science (corresponding author) and Dr. Lee Young-Min (principal author) of the Quantum Functional Semiconductor Research Center, who led the research, said that unlike the existing semiconductor quantum dot devices that operate only at very low temperatures, they have succeeded in manufacturing a quantum elliptical device that operates even at room temperature. In addition, by utilizing the spontaneous drive energy modulation function of the manufactured device, they have experimentally demonstrated that it is possible to selectively express and reconstruct various multi-valued electronic information using only one quantum device.
The results show that not only can electronic information operations and logic circuits be reduced very simply, but existing CMOS device-based binary digital operations system can be switched to n-ary numeration systems. Professor Lee explains that expressing and calculating various multi-valued electronic information more quickly and easily can lead to developing n-ary numeration digital operation and information process systems more easily. This means that with even a very simple circuit configuration it is possible to quickly calculate and analyze a huge amount of information required for artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, big data processing, and the like. He then expressed his hope that it could be actively used for applied research for portability, convenience, and versatility of ubiquitous devices in the future.
Meanwhile, this research is groundbreaking and has not yet been reported worldwide, and is published in ACS Nano (IF = 15.881, JCR top 6.1%), one of the best journals in the field of nanoscience and technology.