Enhanced Device Performance of Germanium Nanowire Junctionless (GeNW-JL) MOSFETs by Germanide Contact Formation with Ar Plasma Treatment
- 19 February 2014
- journal article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Vol. 6 (5), 3150-3155
- https://doi.org/10.1021/am403971x
Abstract
In this study, germanium nanowire junctionless (GeNW-JL) metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistors (MOSFETs) exhibited enhanced electrical performance with low source/drain (S/D) contact resistance under the influence of Ar plasma treatment on the contact regions. We found that the transformation of the surface oxide states by Ar plasma treatment affected the S/D contact resistance. With Ar plasma treatment, the germanium dioxide on the GeNW surface was effectively removed and increased oxygen vacancies were formed in the suboxide on the GeNW, whose germanium-enrichment surface was obtained to form a germanide contact at low temperature. After a rapid thermal annealing process, Ni-germanide contacts were formed on the Ar-plasma-treated GeNW surface. Ni-germanide contact resistance was improved by more than an order of magnitude compared to that of the other devices without Ni-germanide contact. Moreover, the peak field effect mobility value of the GeNW-JL MOSFETs was dramatically improved from 15 cm2/(V s) to 550 cm2/(V s), and the Ion/off ratio was enhanced from 1 × 10 to 3 × 103 due to Ar plasma treatment. The Ar plasma treatment process is essential for forming uniform Ni-germanide-contacts with reduced time and low temperature. It is also crucial for increasing mass productivity and lowering the thermal budget without sacrificing the performance of GeNW-JL MOSFETs.This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
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