A novel device principle for nanoelectronics

We report on the results of our recent theoretical and experimental investigations of a novel, room temperature electrical property of three-terminal ballistic junctions (TBJs). For a symmetric TBJ device, it is found that when finite voltages Vl and Vr are applied in push–pull fashion, with Vl=V and Vr=−V, to the left and right branches, the voltage output Vc from the central branch will always be negative. This property is in strong contrast to a symmetric three-terminal device made from conventional diffusive conductors, for which Ohmʹs law predicts a constant zero output of Vc for all Vl=−Vr. This novel characteristic appears even when the device symmetry is broken, provided that |V| is greater than the threshold. It is also shown that the TBJ devices show a good parabolic behavior for Vc vs. V in a large range of voltages V.