Transistors Without Semiconductors

The advances in technology is requiring smaller and smaller electronic devices to the point where silicon surfaces cannot get small enough to meet this demand. Another disadvantage to using silicon semiconductors is, they waste energy in the form of heat.
Michigan Technological University physicist Yoke Khin Yap, and his team developed a way to create virtual carpets of BNNTs (Boron Nitride Nanotubes), and placed 3-nanometer Quantum Dots (QDs) of gold on the tops of insulating substrate BNNTs. When electrodes on either end of the QDs-BNNTs were fired up, the electrons showed a very precise, and consistent behavior jumping from gold-dot to gold-dot known as the Quantum Tunneling phenomenon.

This will have an enormous impact on how small the human implantable medical devices can get. Gotta love science!