TFET performance optimization using gate work function engineering

Abstract

This work presents main electrical characteristics improvement in a nanoscale tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) with 50 nm channel length, applying work function engineering techniques. Three different metal gate materials with dedicated work functions are utilized to optimize the TFET performance. By gate work function and length optimization, the main parameters of Ion = 5×10−5 A/µm, Ioff = 2.5 × 10−15 A/µm, Iamb = 3×10−7 A/µm, and subthreshold swing = 51.01 mV/decade are obtained in accordance with tunneling barrier shape at source/channel and drain/channel tunnel junctions. The work function engineering techniques, presented in the current work, results in 1.22 times improvement in ION and 0.99 times improvement in IOFF.