High performance tunnel field-effect transistor by gate and source engineering

Abstract

As one of the most promising candidates for future nanoelectronic devices, tunnel field-effect transistors (TFET) can overcome the subthreshold slope (SS) limitation of MOSFET, whereas high ON-current, low OFF-current and steep switching can hardly be obtained at the same time for experimental TFETs. In this paper, we developed a new nanodevice technology based on TFET concepts. By designing the gate configuration and introducing the optimized Schottky junction, a multi-finger-gate TFET with a dopant-segregated Schottky source (mFSB-TFET) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A steeper SS can be achieved in the fabricated mFSB-TFET on the bulk Si substrate benefiting from the coupled quantum band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) mechanism, as well as a high I(ON)/I(OFF) ratio (∼ 10(7)) at V(DS) = 0.2 V without an area penalty. By compatible SOI CMOS technology, the fabricated Si mFSB-TFET device was further optimized with a high ION/IOFF ratio of ∼ 10(8) and a steeper SS of over 5.5 decades of current. A minimum SS of below 60 mV dec(-1) was experimentally obtained, indicating its dominant quantum BTBT mechanism for switching.