Reduced OFF-state current and suppressed ambipolarity in a dopingless vertical TFET with dual-drain for high-frequency circuit applications

Abstract

In this article, a dopingless TFET with dual-drain and reversed T-shaped channel (DLVIT-TFET) is investigated to offer improvement in ON-state current (IOn) along with the reduction in OFF-state leakage current (IOff) and in ambipolarity. The investigated device has a dual channel region which helps in improving the on-state parameters like IOn and subthreshold swing (SS) due to the extended tunneling area. The inverted T-shaped channel minimizes the charge carriers to tunnel during the off-state, thereby reducing the magnitude of IOff. The results obtained from 2D TCAD simulation show that the investigated device provides ∼1 order of improvement in IOn and ∼3 orders of improvement in IOff. Furthermore, DLVIT-TFET offers an ∼3 orders of improvement in ambipolar current (IAmb) due to a reduction in peak electric field at channel-drain interface caused by splitting of drain potential at ambipolar state. Moreover, various analog/RF parameters such as transconductance (gm), gate parasitic capacitance (Cgd, and Cgs), cut-off frequency (fTmax), gain-bandwidth product (GBP), transconductance-frequency product (TFP) and transit time (τ) are found to be improved in DLVIT-TFET compared to the conventional DL-TFET. In addition, the transient analysis of DLVIT-TFET based inverter is analyzed, which shows improvement in the parameters like propagation delay and voltage swing. Finally, reliability of the investigated device is discussed by considering the effect of interface trap charges (ITCs) and variation in ambient temperature and it is observed that DLVIT-TFET is more immune to such defects and environmental factors than the conventional one.