Electrically variable shallow junction metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors on silicon on insulator have been fabricated to evaluate the suitability of fabrication processes on a nanoscale. In addition, the limits of scalability have been explored reducing gate lengths down to 12 nm. Specific attention has been paid to the overlay accuracy as required for the fabrication of these double gate structures. The superior quality of hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) as electron beam resist and as mask material is demonstrated. The transistor fabricated exhibits extremely low leakage currents and relatively high on currents. The 8 orders of magnitude difference between the on and off states demonstrates conclusively large potentials for metal-oxide-semiconductor structures with critical dimensions in the 10 nm regime. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society.