Abstract
This Letter presents a detailed comparison of carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNFETs) and metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) with special focus on carbon nanotube FET's potential for implementing analogue circuits in the mm-wave and sub-terahertz range. The latest CNFET lithographic dimensions place it at-par with complementary metal oxide semiconductor in terms of current handling capability, whereas the forecasted improvement in the lithography enables the CNFETs to handle more than twice the current of MOSFETs. The comparison of RF parameters shows superior performance of CNFETs with a gm , f T and f max of 2.7, 2.6 and 4.5 times higher, respectively. MOSFET- and CNFET-based inverter, three-stage ring oscillator and LC oscillator have been designed and compared as well. The CNFET-based inverters are found to be ten times faster, the ring oscillator demonstrates three times higher oscillation frequency and CNFET-based LC oscillator also shows improved performance than its MOSFET counterpart.
Highlights
The exponential growth of transistors in integrated circuits as described by the Moore’s law has continued for almost half a century
As we are comparing the drain current at a certain width and the two values of the pitches, Fig. 4 Drain current against transistor width for metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) and carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNFETs) for two different pitches CNFET width is increased by increasing the number of tubes the number of tubes can no longer be the same
In this sub-section, it is used as a bench-marking circuit between MOSFET and CNFETs, comparing the oscillation frequency and power consumption of a three-stage ring oscillator
Summary
The exponential growth of transistors in integrated circuits as described by the Moore’s law has continued for almost half a century. The 2010 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRSs) predicts the growth to slow down by the end of 2013 [1] This is primarily because the scaling of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) is fast approaching its physical limits and presents many obstacles such as higher subthreshold conduction, increased gate oxide and junction leakage, lower output resistance and transconductance and increased heat production [2]. This has led semiconductor industry to explore different materials and devices and more-than-Moore technologies (as coined by ITRS).
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