Transistor sets a new standard for energy efficiency

© 2020 EPFL - Researchers at EPFL's Nanoelectronic Devices Laboratory (Nanolab), working under Professor Adrian Ionescu, have designed and demonstrated a new type of technology based on 2D semiconducting materials that's almost as energy-efficient as the human brain. Smartphones, laptops and smartwatches consume vast quantities of energy, yet only around half of this energy is actually used to power important functions. And with billions of these devices in use worldwide, a significant amount of energy goes to waste. Professor Adrian Ionescu and his team at EPFL's Nanoelectronic Devices Laboratory (Nanolab) have launched a series of research projects in the quest to make transistors more energy-efficient. "The transistor is the most abundant artificial object ever created by humans," says Prof. Ionescu. "It enables our entire computational infrastructure and the way we interact in real time with portable information processing in the 21st century. It forms the basic building block for both digital and analog signal processing." Energy efficiency matters "Today, we know that the human brain consumes about the same quantity of energy as a 20 Watt bulb," says Ionescu.