Thermionic Limit Research Articles

Extreme sub-threshold swing in tunnelling relays

We propose and analyze the theory of the tunnelling relay, a nanoscale active device in which tunnelling current is modulated by electromechanical actuation of a suspended membrane above a fixed electrode. The tunnelling current is modulated exponentially with vacuum gap length, permitting an extreme sub-threshold swing of ∼10 mV/decade breaking the thermionic limit. The predicted performance suggests that a significant reduction in dynamic energy consumption over conventional field effect transistors is physically achievable.

Principle of operation and modeling of source-gated transistors

We have analyzed the characteristics of hydrogenated amorphous silicon source gated transistors (SGTs) by using numerical simulations and we found that the original SGT characteristics can be reproduced without introducing barrier lowering mechanisms at the Schottky contact. Output characteristics show reduced current increase when pinch-off of the source end of the channel is triggered by increasing Vds, while perfect saturation of the drain current is achieved when pinch-off at the drain occurs. According to our simulations, even in the saturation regime the current at metal-semiconductor interface does not reach the thermionic emission limit and remains diffusion limited. Gate bias dependence of the saturation current can be simply explained as a combination of increased saturation voltage and reduced output conductance, without invoking barrier lowering mechanisms. SGT contact effects were modeled by introducing a distributed diode equivalent circuit for the source contact, which reproduces very well the device characteristics and can be easily implemented in a circuit simulator.

Tunnel field-effect transistors with graphene channels

The lack of an OFF-state has been the main obstacle to the application of graphene-based transistors in digital circuits. Recently vertical graphene tunnel field-effect transistors with a low OFF-state current have been reported; however, they exhibited a relatively weak effect of gate voltage on channel conductivity. We propose a novel lateral tunnel graphene transistor with the channel conductivity effectively controlled by the gate voltage and the subthreshold slope approaching the thermionic limit. The proposed transistor has a semiconductor (dielectric) tunnel gap in the channel operated by gate and exhibits both high ON-state current inherent to graphene channels and low OFF-state current inherent to semiconductor channels.

On the Possibility of Obtaining MOSFET-Like Performance and Sub-60-mV/dec Swing in 1-D Broken-Gap Tunnel Transistors

Tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs) have gained a great deal of recent interest due to their potential to reduce power dissipation in integrated circuits. One major challenge for TFETs so far has been achieving high drive currents, which is a prerequisite for high-performance operation. In this paper we explore the performance potential of a 1D TFET with a broken-gap heterojunction source injector using dissipative quantum transport simulations based on the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism, and the carbon nanotube bandstructure as the model 1D material system. We provide detailed insights into broken-gap TFET (BG-TFET) operation, and show that it can indeed produce less than 60mV/decade subthreshold swing at room temperature even in the presence of electron-phonon scattering. The 1D geometry is recognized to be uniquely favorable due to its superior electrostatic control, reduced carrier thermalization rate, and beneficial quantum confinement effects that reduce the off-state leakage below the thermionic limit. Because of higher source injection compared to staggered-gap and homojunction geometries, BG-TFET delivers superior performance that is comparable to MOSFET's. BG-TFET even exceeds the MOSFET performance at lower supply voltages (VDD), showing promise for low-power/high-performance applications.

Inability of Single Carrier Tunneling Barriers to Give Subthermal Subthreshold Swings in MOSFETs

A simple potential mapping is used to show that tunneling through a single barrier, as in Schottky-barrier tunneling or source-to-drain tunneling in MOSFETs, cannot give rise to subthreshold swings below the thermionic limit (60 mV/decade at room temperature). While cognizant of the difficulty of proving a negative, it is thus highly unlikely that Schottky-barrier tunneling alone can result in reported instances of subthreshold swings that are less than 60 mV/decade.

Wideband squeezing in photon number fluctuations from a high-speed light-emitting diode

Wideband, highly noise-suppressed squeezing was observed by using a high-speed, high-quantum-efficiency light-emitting diode. The squeezing bandwidth extended over 200 MHz. We also have investigated the dependence of the squeezing bandwidth on the pump-current at low temperature. The experimental result was compared with the theoretical predictions based on a unified model of the pump and recombination process and was well explained by the model at the thermionic emission limit.

Calculation of the electron-optical characteristics of electron beams transmitted into vacuum from a sharp tip-thin foil junction

The electron-optical characteristics of a novel electron source consisting of a sharp tip-thin foil tunnel junction are calculated, taking into account the tunnel junction, electron transport through the freestanding metal foil, and transmission across the opposing vacuum emission surface. A tunable high-pass energy filter is obtained, via adjustment of the tunnel bias voltage, enabling monochromatization of the electron beam. The dependence of the vacuum emission current, energy spread, reduced brightness, and virtual source size on the tunnel bias voltage are evaluated for a constant tunnel junction current of 10 nA and a foil thickness of 5 nm. Because the dimensions of the tunnel junction are comparable to the electron wavelength, diffraction plays an important role. As a result, the reduced brightness and vacuum emission current are related via the expression B=Iemission (2 me/h2). First, the source may be operated at a tunnel bias voltage for which the energy spread approaches the value for a room-temperature field-emission source (0.2 eV), with a vacuum emission current of 1 nA and a reduced brightness of 7×108 A m−2 sr−1 V−1. By careful adjustment of the tunnel bias voltage to the foil work function value it is possible, in principle, to contain 50% of the beam current within an energy spread of 100 meV at a total vacuum emission current of 0.1 nA and a reduced brightness of 7×107 A m−2 sr−1 V−1. The virtual source size in this case is approximately 1.4 nm. The energy spread may be decreased even further, down to the room-temperature thermionic limit, at the expense of vacuum emission current and, consequently, reduced brightness.

Analytical calculation of the quantum-mechanical transmission coefficient for a triangular, planar-doped potential barrier

The thermionic emission limit for current transport in planar-doped triangular barrier devices is determined by the quantum-mechanical reflection of the charge carriers at the barrier. In this paper we present an analytical calculation for the quantum-mechanical transmission and reflection coefficients for such a barrier.

Thermionic emission in bulk unipolar camel diodes

An analysis of the current-voltage characteristics of bulk unipolar camel diodes in GaAs with a high doping concentration in the barrier region has concluded that current transport is close to the thermionic limit.

Thermionic saturation of diffusion currents in transistors

Macroscopic diffusion theory is not applicable to large percentage variations in carrier concentration over distances comparable to a scattering path length. It is plausible that the transport velocity for thermionic emission over a barrier of zero height constitutes a limit on the velocity of diffusive current flow at any point in a bulk semiconductor. Not incorporating a thermionic limit, the drift-diffusion current transport equation cannot account for thermionic emission. While a full remedy to these difficulties can only lie in a complete investigation of the relevant statistical physics, we present herein an empirical modification of the current transport equation based on the elementary concept of thermionic saturation of the diffusion current. The modified equation appears capable of accounting, at least in a crude way, for thermionically limited current flow, while permitting a unified treatment of diffusion-drift-thermionic transport. For narrow base transistors ( w b ∼ 1000 A ̊ ), much larger ratios of stored base charge to collector current are predicted than from diffusion theory. A thermionic emission-diffusion equation is derived for barrier injection in floating base transistors biased into punch-through. It is found for silicon structures that transport is diffusion-drift dominated at base impurity concentrations < 10 17 cm −3, and thermionically controlled at higher base doping. A possible small reduction in the thermionic Richardson constant by a factor ≲ e is also predicted from the diffusion saturation equation.