The basic operation of a tunneling transistor involves a source, drain, and gate similar to a MOSFET, but the key difference lies in the barrier between the source and the channel. When a voltage is applied to the gate, it alters the energy bands in such a way that electrons can tunnel through the barrier from the source to the channel, thereby enabling current flow. This tunneling effect is possible due to the quantum mechanical properties of particles at the nanoscale.
