A fair comparison of the performance of charge plasma and electrostatic tunnel FETs for low-power high-frequency applications

Abstract

A comparative investigation has been carried out on the charge plasma tunnel field-effect transistor (CP-TFET) and electrically doped TFET (ED-TFET). Both device structures are created on intrinsic silicon, but differ regarding the method employed to induce charge carriers in the intrinsic silicon area. In the charge plasma TFET, metal work function engineering is employed, while in the case of the ED-TFET, electrostatics is used to induce charge carriers at the drain/source side, resulting in the formation of n+ drain and p+ source regions. Both devices are analyzed for the same OFF-state current, which will reduce the gate leakage and enable a fair comparison of the devices. The analysis is carried out in terms of direct-current (DC) characteristics as well as analog and radiofrequency parameters, revealing that the charge plasma TFET exhibits better DC and analog/RF characteristics as compared with the electrically doped TFET. This occurs due to the lower work function applied at the source–channel region in the CP-TFET compared with the ED-TFET.