Nanowire electronics

Nanowires are an ideal choice for electronic applications. The underlying reason is that they offer a number of intrinsic properties that make them uniquely suited for low-power applications that require a highly linear device response. In this article we discuss the advantages of nanowires in particular for RF applications emphasizing the critical role of the quantum capacitance for the device operation. We argue that the one-dimensional character of a nanowire is the key enabler for device operation in the quantum capacitance limit and the main reason for a vastly different switching behavior in nanowire field-effect transistors.