Which phenomenon limits miniaturization of CMOS transistors approaching a 5nm gate length?

💡 Explanation

When transistors shrink to near 5nm, quantum tunneling occurs because the gate insulation becomes extremely thin permitting electrons to tunnel through, regardless of applied voltage, disrupting switching behavior. Therefore gate isolation is disrupted, rather than electromigration, thermal runaway, or capacitance interference which operate under different material or scaling conditions.

• In high-speed fuel injectors, which risk escalates when fuel temperature falls below a threshold?
• Which consequence results when excessive power causes filamentation?
• Which mechanism limits maximum liquid flow in microfluidic channels?
• Which risk increases when a DC-DC boost converter operates with discontinuous conduction mode and insufficient output capacitance?
• Which consequence results when the dielectric constant of capacitor insulation decreases excessively at high frequencies?
• Which outcome results when anisotropic crystals cause birefringence?