Silicon Tunneling Field Effect Transistors with a Hemicylindrical Nanowire Channel for Ultra-Low Power Application

Abstract

In order to decrease the threshold voltage while maintaining the OFF current low, reduction of the subthreshold swing is essential in field effect transistors(FETs). To reduce the subthreshold swing below 60 mV/decade, inter-band tunneling can be used for injection of carriers and the device that utilizes such a mechanism is tunneling field effect transistor (TFET). Silicon(Si) TFETs, which are favored due to their compatibility with currently dominant complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor(CMOS) technology, suffer from low ON current because of the relatively large bandgap of Si. The ON current of Si TFETs can be increased by field and area enhancement in a cylindrical nanowire channel. Numerical analysis has confirmed that the cylindrical channel structure shows significantly higher tunneling rate and wider tunneling area than the double gate structure. Si TFETs with a hemicylindrical nanowire channel are fabricated and characterized, and the effectiveness of nanowire channel approach is demonstrated.