Thermal-electronic integrated logic

Most of the electrical components (transistors, resistors, etc.) are thermally sensitive elements. Thermal coupling between elements of integrated circuits is a well-known parasitic effect, which must be taken into account in the design process. Here we introduce a new principle for logic gate and logic system operation using thermally sensitive electrical switches, such as vanadium-dioxide (VO₂) resistors capable for semiconductor-metal transition (SMT) and showing thyristor-like characteristics. A thermally sensitive resistor (formed of VO₂ for example) integrated with a controllable heating element can be considered as a novel electro-thermal active device: phonsistor. In a thermal-electronic integrated circuit (TELC) formed of phonsistors both the electrical and thermal signals are treated as logic variables. As the thermal time constants decrease with shrinking the geometrical dimensions (scaling down), in the region of a few 10 nm linear measures their value can be comparable with the electrical time constants (100 picoseconds). The tunnel effect limits the scaling down of electron devices; this may stop the size reduction in 10-20 nm for a phonsistor device and 50 nm for complex logic gates. As a TELC gate is basically a bulk type device, it contains less interfaces compared to the conventional VLSI gates, thus scaling down is easier and more effective.