Switching from ⟨110⟩ to ⟨100⟩ orientation increases both the on current and off current of p-channel metal-oxide semiconductor transistors

Abstract

If the on current of p-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (PMOS) transistors fabricated on (100) silicon substrate can be easily increased by switching from ⟨110⟩ to ⟨100⟩ orientation because of faster hole transport in the “on state,” it is natural to expect that this switching can also increase the off current because of faster hole transport in the “off state.” Indeed we managed to observe this experimentally for relatively long PMOS transistors. In this letter, we will also show that there is an overall performance improvement in PMOS transistors despite the increase in both on current and off current.