IEEE Spectrum: Current state-of-the-art commercially available silicon transistors have 20 nm gates; the theoretical minimum for silicon transistors is 5 nm. Some researchers view that 5 nm threshold as the point at which Moore's law, which describes the doubling of the density of transistors on computer chips, will break down. Using molybdenum disulfide and carbon nanotubes, Ali Javey of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and his colleagues have now created a transistor with a gate that is just 1 nm across. Javey is quick to caution that their transistor is far from being commercializable. But simply showing that it is possible for transistors to have gates below the 5 nm mark leaves the door open for the continuation of Moore's law.
