PhD student, Eva Bestelink, was awarded a £100 Apple gift voucher for her achievement. The prize was sponsored by inseto and FOM Technologies.

Eva presented her poster on one of the most important benefits of the multimodal transistor (MMT), that of its linear output current on input voltage dependence. For a particular material system, the geometry of the device can be designed to not only provide this linear behaviour, but also the ability to achieve a directly proportional dependence.

Linearity is highly important for analog circuits and, typically, large circuits would be required to achieve it over a large range of operating conditions, with engineers relying previously on material developments or complex schematics to achieve suitable operation.

The MMT is inherently linear, and its introduction in large-area circuits will thus save space and improve manufacturing yield. This relatively simple capability of the MMT could have a profound effect on overall circuit design for analog applications, such as bio-sensing or imaging.