A research team comprising Professors Byoung Hun Lee and Seokhyeong Kang and PhD student Yongsu Lee of POSTECH’s Department of Electrical Engineering has successfully developed fundamental device technology for ternary logic circuits that deliver excellent performance with low power consumption.

The team developed an anti-ambipolar switching device that conducts only within a specific voltage range, addressing the leakage-current problem in ternary circuits.

Ternary circuits using the anti-ambipolar switching device produced almost no leakage current and demonstrated outstanding performance while consuming only 0.15 microwatts (μW; 1 μW is one-millionth of a watt). This is just one-seventh of the power required by other ternary circuits.

The newly developed device has an excellent peak-to-valley ratio of 106. It also supports chip-scale, large-area processing and operates stably and uniformly, increasing the prospects for commercializing ternary circuits.

The research is attracting academic attention as an alternative for overcoming the limitations of semiconductor technology struggling with rapidly increasing power consumption. Reducing power consumption is expected to enhance the competitiveness of related industries and reduce environmental pollution associated with massive electricity use.