Emerging non-CMOS nanoelectronic devices - What are they?

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors have reached the nanometer geometry scale (1-100 nm) where they are difficult to be scaled anymore due to essentially quantum mechanical properties effects. This paper discusses emerging non-CMOS nanoelectronic devices (nanodevices) that could potentially be able to circumvent the CMOS scaling problem. First we propose a taxonomy, which classifies the nanodevices according to the physical phenomena driving their operations into electrical, magnetic, and mechanical nanodevices. Thereafter, a detailed analysis and comparison of the difference nanodevice classes are presented, including structures, advantages, disadvantages, and potential applications. Based on the comparison, we conclude that the electrical-dependent nanodevices are the leading nanodevices to be the complement or the replacement CMOS devices in future circuits.