Selected as Vice Representative of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Course and Winner of the Outstanding Master's Thesis Award for AY2025! — Kaede Teraoka (Wakabayashi Laboratory) —

Since the advent of integrated circuits in the mid-20th century, enhancements in their performance have been driven by the continuous miniaturization of transistors. To push the boundaries of this miniaturization even further, this research focused on reducing parasitic resistance for assumed p-type operation using tungsten disulfide (WS₂)—a material with a thickness of merely 0.65 nm that can be utilized in the channel region of a transistor. Parasitic resistance is a resistance component connected in series with the transistor channel, and it constitutes a major factor behind degraded operation speeds and increased power consumption. To mitigate this parasitic resistance in WS₂-based transistors, we investigated two distinct approaches in this study. The first approach involves inserting a thin insulating film at the interface between the WS₂ and the metal, while the second entails doping the WS₂ to exhibit p-type characteristics, similar to conventional silicon devices.
Through this research, we successfully reduced the parasitic resistance. Furthermore, we fabricated actual transistors using the doped WS₂ films and demonstrated their p-type operational characteristics. Looking ahead, if further research enables us to lower the parasitic resistance to a level suitable for practical transistor applications, it will pave the way for the development of higher-performance integrated circuits. Ultimately, I believe this will contribute significantly to the further advancement of fields such as smartphones, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence (AI).

I am deeply honored to receive the Outstanding Master's Thesis Award and to have been selected as the Vice Representative of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Course. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone in the laboratory and the faculty members involved for their warm and unwavering support. Above all, I am profoundly grateful to Professor Wakabayashi for his meticulous guidance despite his demanding schedule. Through his mentorship, I acquired not only research expertise but also invaluable lessons that will serve as lifelong skills. With the experience and skills cultivated at the Wakabayashi Laboratory as my driving force, I am committed to striving for even greater excellence in my future endeavors.