Nature, Published online: 01 July 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01807-y Direct imaging shows that the contacts through which current flows into atomically thin transistors can be scaled down to just a few nanometres in length.
This development comes as the semiconductor industry faces fundamental physical limits in miniaturization, necessitating novel approaches to continue advancements.
This research provides a critical pathway for the continued scaling of atomically thin transistors, directly impacting the future computational power and efficiency of electronic devices.
The ability to scale down transistor contacts to a few nanometres offers a potential solution to a long-standing bottleneck in semiconductor manufacturing.
- · Semiconductor manufacturers
- · High-performance computing sector
- · AI hardware developers
- · Consumers of electronic devices
- · Companies reliant on older fabrication technologies
Further miniaturization of transistors becomes feasible, allowing for denser and more powerful chips.
This could lead to a new generation of more energy-efficient and capable AI accelerators and other advanced compute hardware.
Reduced form factors and increased performance could accelerate ubiquitous computing and edge AI applications, potentially shifting device paradigms.
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