ABSTRACT
The method of fabricating nanoelectronics is vastly different from the conventional microelectronics processing technology. The devices are too small, a mere few nanometers large, and an estimated 1012 per can be integrated per square centimeter area when compared to 1010 per using MOSFET devices, projected for the year 2018 [271]. It should be noted that this level of integration will be hard to attain because of those nanolevel dimensions; the arbitrary patterning of circuits will probably not be feasible. Because of the difference in fabrication techniques, nanowires (NWs) and nanobelts are more attractive where the conduction properties can be more tightly controlled. Thus, they have more active device potential than the nanotubes. These semiconducting metal-oxide NWs can be used as an active device and also as interconnecting wires to carry electrical signals [272]. In addition to improved electrostatics, the one-dimensional (1-D) transistors provide novel characteristics due to quantum con™nement. A recent study of ballistic transistors [273] shows, however, that except for differences in electrostatics, device performance metrics, such as the injection velocity and the intrinsic device delay, are similar for NW transistors and two-dimensional (2-D) planar transistors.
