The functional diversification and adaptability of the elementary switching units of computational circuits are disruptive approaches for advancing electronics beyond the static capabilities of conventional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-based architectures. Thereto, in this work the one-dimensional nature of monocrystalline and monolithic Al-Ge-based nanowire heterostructures is exploited to deliver charge carrier polarity control and furthermore to enable distinct programmable negative differential resistance at runtime. The fusion of electron and hole conduction together with negative differential resistance in a universal adaptive transistor may enable energy-efficient reconfigurable circuits with multivalued operability that are inherent components of emerging artificial intelligence electronics.
Keywords: adaptive electronics; germanium; heterostructures; nanowires; negative differential resistance; reconfigurable transistor.