Demonstration of L-Shaped Tunnel Field-Effect Transistors

Abstract

An L-shaped tunnel FET (TFET), which features band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) perpendicular to the channel direction, is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. It is more scalable than other vertical-BTBT-based TFET designs and provides more than $1000\times $ higher ON-current ( $I_{{\mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}}$ ) than a conventional planar TFET with the same gate overdrive ( $V_{\mathrm{ov}}$ ) of 0.8 V, due to improved subthreshold swing ( $S$ ) and larger tunnel junction area. Its temperature dependence, constant $S$ , and nonlinear output characteristics are discussed.