Si–Ge based vertical tunnel field-effect transistor of junction-less structure with improved sensitivity using dielectric modulation for biosensing applications

A dielectric modulation strategy for gate oxide material that enhances the sensing performance of biosensors in junction-less vertical tunnel field effect transistors(TFETs)is reported.The junction-less technique,in which metals with specific work functions are deposited on the source region to modulate the channel conductivity,is used to provide the necessary doping for the proper functioning of the device.TCAD simulation studies of the proposed structure and junction structure have been compared,and showed an enhanced rectification of 10^(4) times.The proposed structure is designed to have a nanocavity of length 10 nm on the left-and right-hand sides of the fixed gate dielectric,which improves the biosensor capture area,and hence the sensitivity.By considering neutral and charged biomolecules with different dielectric constants,TCAD simulation studies were compared for their sensitivities.The off-state current IOFFcan be used as a suitable sensing parameter because it has been observed that the proposed sensor exhibits a significant variation in drain current.Additionally,it has been investigated how positively and negatively charged biomolecules affect the drain current and threshold voltage.To explore the device performance when the nanogaps are fully filled,half filled and unevenly filled,extensive TCAD simulations have been run.The proposed TFET structure is further benchmarked to other structures to show its better sensing capabilities.

Influence of trap-assisted tunneling on trap-assisted tunneling current in double gate tunnel field-effect transistor

Trap-assisted tunneling（TAT） has attracted more and more attention, because it seriously affects the sub-threshold characteristic of tunnel field-effect transistor（TFET）. In this paper, we assess subthreshold performance of double gate TFET（DG-TFET） through a band-to-band tunneling（BTBT） model, including phonon-assisted scattering and acoustic surface phonons scattering. Interface state density profile（D_（it）） and the trap level are included in the simulation to analyze their effects on TAT current and the mechanism of gate leakage current.

Ge Complementary Tunneling Field-Effect Transistors Featuring Dopant Segregated NiGe Source/Drain

Ge complementary tunneling field-effect transistors（TFETs） are fabricated with the NiGe metal source/drain（S/D） structure. The dopant segregation method is employed to form the NiGe/Ge tunneling junctions of sufficiently high Schottky barrier heights. As a result, the Ge p-and n-TFETs exhibit decent electrical properties of large ON-state current and steep sub-threshold slope（S factor）. Especially, I_d of 0.2 μA/μm is revealed at V_g-V_（th） = V_d = ±0.5 V for Ge pTFETs,with the S factor of 28 mV/dec at 7 K.

Characteristics of cylindrical surrounding-gate GaAs_xSb_(1-x)/In_yGa_(1-y)As heterojunction tunneling field-effect transistors

A Ⅲ-Ⅴ heterojunction tunneling field-effect transistor(TFET) can enhance the on-state current effectively,and GaAsSb/InGaAs heterojunction exhibits better performance with the adjustable band alignment by modulating the alloy composition.In this paper,the performance of the cylindrical surrounding-gate GaAsSb/InGaAs heterojunction TFET with gate-drain underlap is investigated by numerical simulation.We validate that reducing drain doping concentration and increasing gate-drain underlap could be effective ways to reduce the off-state current and subthreshold swing(SS),while increasing source doping concentration and adjusting the composition of GaAsSbInGaAs can improve the on-state current.In addition,the resonant TFET based on GaAsSb/InGaAs is also studied,and the result shows that the minimum and average of SS reach 11 mV/decade and 20 mV/decade for five decades of drain current,respectively,and is much superior to the conventional TFET.

Two-dimensional threshold voltage model of a nanoscale silicon-on-insulator tunneling field-effect transistor

The tunneling field-effect transistor（TFET） is a potential candidate for the post-CMOS era.In this paper,a threshold voltage model is developed for this new kind of device.First,two-dimensional（2D） models are used to describe the distributions of potential and electric field in the channel and two depletion regions.Then based on the physical definition of threshold voltage for the nanoscale TFET,the threshold voltage model is developed.The accuracy of the proposed model is verified by comparing the calculated results with the 2D device simulation data.It has been demonstrated that the effects of varying the device parameters can easily be investigated using the model presented in this paper.This threshold voltage model provides a valuable reference to TFET device design,simulation,and fabrication.

High on-state current p-type tunnel effect transistor based on doping modulation

To solve the problem of the low on-state current in p-type tunnel field-effect transistors(p-TFETs),this paper analyzes the mechanism of adjusting the tunneling current of a TFET device determined by studying the influence of the peak position of ion implantation on the potential of the p-TFET device surface and the width of the tunneling barrier.Doping-regulated silicon-based high on-state p-TFET devices are designed and fabricated,and the test results show that the on-state current of the fabricated devices can be increased by about two orders of magnitude compared with the current of other devices with the same structure.This method provides a new idea for the realization of high on-state current TFET devices.

Design and Analysis of Graphene Based Tunnel Field Effect Transistor with Various Ambipolar Reducing Techniques

The fundamental advantages of carbon-based graphene material,such as its high tunnelling probability,symmetric band structure(linear dependence of the energy band on the wave direction),low effective mass,and characteristics of its 2D atomic layers,are the main focus of this research work.The impact of channel thickness,gate under-lap,asymmetric source/drain doping method,workfunction of gate contact,and High-K material on Graphene-based Tunnel Field Effect Transistor(TFET)is analyzed with 20 nm technology.Physical modelling and electrical characteristic performance have been simulated using the Atlas device simulator of SILVACO TCAD with user-defined material syntax for the newly included graphene material in comparison to silicon carbide(SiC).The simulation results in significant suppression of ambipolar current to voltage characteristics of TFET and modelled device exhibits a significant improvement in subthreshold swing(0.0159 V/decade),the ratio of Ion/Ioff(1000),and threshold voltage(-0.2 V with highly doped p-type source and 0.2 V with highly doped n-type drain)with power supply of 0.5 V,which make it useful for low power digital applications.

Characteristic enhancement in tunnel field-effect transistors via introduction of vertical graded source

A novel vertical graded source tunnel field-effect transistor(VGS-TFET)is proposed to improve device performance.By introducing a source with linearly graded component,the on-state current increases by more than two decades higher than that of the conventional GaAs TFETs without sacrificing the subthreshold swing(SS)due to the improved band-to-band tunneling efficiency.Compared with the conventional TFETs,much larger drive current range can be achieved by the proposed VGS-TFET with SS below the thermionic limitation of 60 mV/dec.Furthermore,the minimum SS about 20 mV/dec indicates its promising potential for further ultralow power applications.

Impact of low/high-κ spacer-source overlap on characteristics of tunnel dielectric based tunnel field-effect transistor

The effects of low-κ and high-κ spacer were investigated on the novel tunnel dielectric based tunnel field-effect transistor(TD-FET) mainly based upon ultra-thin dielectric direct tunneling mechanism. Drive currents consist of direct tunneling current and band-to-band tunneling(BTBT) current. Meanwhile, tunneling position of the TD-FET differs from conventional tunnel-FET in which the electron and hole tunneling occur at intermediate rather than surface in channel(or source-channel junction under gate dielectric). The 2-D nature of TD-FET current flow is also discussed that the on-current is degraded with an increase in the spacer width. BTBT current will not begin to play part in tunneling current until gate voltage is 0.2 V. We clearly identify the influence of the tunneling dielectric layer and spacer electrostatic field on the device characteristics by numerical simulations. The inserted Si_3N_4 tunnel layer between P+ region and N+ region can significantly shorten the direct and band-to-band tunneling path, so a reduced subthreshold slope(Ss) and a high on-current can be achieved. Above all the ambipolar current is effectively suppressed, thus reducing off-current. TD-FET demonstrates excellent performance for low-power applications.

Optimization of ambipolar current and analog/RF performance for T-shaped tunnel field-effect transistor with gate dielectric spacer

A new T-shaped tunnel field-effect transistor(TTFET) with gate dielectric spacer(GDS) structure is proposed in this paper. To further studied the effects of GDS structure on the TTFET, detailed device characteristics such as current-voltage relationships, energy band diagrams, band-to-band tunneling(BTBT) rate and the magnitude of the electric field are investigated by using TCAD simulation. It is found that compared with conventional TTFET and TTFET with gate-drain overlap(GDO) structure, GDS-TTFET not only has the minimum ambipolar current but also can suppress the ambipolar current under a more extensive bias range. Furthermore, the analog/RF performances of GDS-TTFET are also investigated in terms of transconductance, gate-source capacitance, gate-drain capacitance, cutoff frequency, and gain bandwidth production. By inserting a low-κ spacer layer between the gate electrode and the gate dielectric, the GDS structure can effectively reduce parasitic capacitances between the gate and the source/drain, which leads to better performance in term of cutoff frequency and gain bandwidth production. Finally, the thickness of the gate dielectric spacer is optimized for better ambipolar current suppression and improved analog/RF performance.

Double-gate-all-around tunnel field-effect transistor

In this work, a double-gate-all-around tunneling field-effect transistor is proposed. The performance of the novel device is studied by numerical simulation. The results show that with a thinner body and an additional core gate, the novel device achieves a steeper subthreshold slope, less susceptibility to the short channel effect, higher on-state current, and larger on/off current ratio than the traditional gate-all-around tunneling field-effect transistor. The excellent performance makes the proposed structure more attractive to further dimension scaling.

Double-gate tunnel field-effect transistor:Gate threshold voltage modeling and extraction

The tunnel field-effect transistor(TFET) is a potential candidate for the post-CMOS era.As one of the most important electrical parameters of a device,double gate TFET(DG-TFET) gate threshold voltage was studied.First,a numerical simulation study of transfer characteristic and gate threshold voltage in DG-TFET was reported.Then,a simple analytical model for DG-TFET gate threshold voltage VTG was built by solving quasi-two-dimensional Poisson equation in Si film.The model as a function of the drain voltage,the Si layer thickness,the gate length and the gate dielectric was discussed.It is shown that the proposed model is consistent with the simulation results.This model should be useful for further investigation of performance of circuits containing TFETs.

Heteromaterial-gate line tunnel field-effect transistor based on Si/Ge heterojunction

A Si/Ge heterojunction line tunnel field-effect transistor （LTFET） with a symmetric heteromaterial gate is proposed. Compared to single-material-gate LTFETs, the heteromaterial gate LTFET shows an off-state leakage current that is three orders of magnitude lower, and steeper subthreshold characteristics, without degradation in the on-state current. We reveal that these improvements are due to the induced local potential barrier, which arises from the energy-band profile modulation effect. Based on this novel structure, the impacts of the physical parameters of the gap region between the pocket and the drain, including the work-function mismatch between the pocket gate and the gap gate, the type of dopant, and the doping concentration, on the device performance are investigated. Simulation and theoretical calculation results indicate that the gap gate material and n-type doping level in the gap region should be optimized simultaneously to make this region fully depleted for further suppression of the off-state leakage current.

Ge/Si heterojunction L-shape tunnel field-effect transistors with hetero-gate-dielectric

A Ge/Si heterojunction L-shaped tunnel field-effect transistor combined with hetero-gate-dielectric （GHL-TFET） is proposed and investigated by TCAD simulation. Current-voltage characteristics, energy-band diagrams, and the distri- bution of the band-to-band tunneling （BTBT） generation rate of GHL-TFET are analyzed. In addition, the effect of the vertical channel width on the ON-current is studied and the thickness of the gate dielectric is optimized for better suppression of ambipolar current. Moreover, analog/RF figure-of-merits of GHL-TFET are also investigated in terms of the cut-off frequency and gain bandwidth production. Simulation results indicate that the ON-current of GHL-TFET is increased by about three orders of magnitude compared with that of the conventional L-shaped TFET. Besides, the introduction of the hetero-gate-dielectric not only suppresses the ambipolar current effectively but also improves the analog/RF performance drastically. It is demonstrated that the maximum cut-off frequency of GHL-TFET is about 160 GHz, which is 20 times higher than that of the conventional L-shaped TFET.

Quantum confinement effects and source-to-drain tunneling in ultra-scaled double-gate silicon n-MOSFETs

By using the linear combination of bulk band （LCBB） method incorporated with the top of the barrier splitting （TBS） model, we present a comprehensive study on the quantum confinement effects and the source-to-drain tunneling in the ultra-scaled double-gate （DG） metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors （MOSFETs）. A critical body thickness value of 5 nm is found, below which severe valley splittings among different X valleys for the occupied charge density and the current contributions occur in ultra-thin silicon body structures. It is also found that the tunneling current could be nearly 100% with an ultra-scaled channel length. Different from the previous simulation results, it is found that the source-to-drain tunneling could be effectively suppressed in the ultra-thin body thickness （2.0 nm and below） by the quantum confinement and the tunneling could be suppressed down to below 5% when the channel length approaches 16 nm regardless of the body thickness.

An accurate analytical surface potential model of heterojunction tunnel FET

Based on the accurate and efficient thermal injection method, we develop a fully analytical surface potential model for the heterojunction tunnel field-effect transistor(H-TFET). This model accounts for both the effects of source depletion and inversion charge, which are the key factors influencing the charge, capacitance and current in H-TFET. The accuracy of the model is validated against TCAD simulation and is greatly improved in comparison with the conventional model based on Maxwell–Boltzmann approximation. Furthermore, the dependences of the surface potential and electric field on biases are well predicted and thoroughly analyzed.

n型纳米非对称DG-TFET阈值电压特性研究

n型纳米非对称双栅隧穿场效应晶体管(DG-TFET)速度快、功耗低,在高速低功耗领域具有很好的应用前景,但其阈值电压的表征及其模型与常规MOSFET不同。在深入研究n型纳米非对称DG-TFET的阈值特性基础上,通过求解器件不同区域电场、电势的方法,建立了n型纳米非对称DG-TFET器件阈值电压数值模型,探讨了器件材料物理参数以及漏源电压对阈值电压的影响,通过与Silvaco Atlas的仿真结果比较,验证了模型的正确性。研究表明,n型纳米非对称DG-TFET的阈值电压分别随着栅介质层介电常数的增加、硅层厚度的减薄以及源漏电压的减小而减小,而栅长对其阈值电压的影响有限。该研究对纳米非对称DG-TFET的设计、仿真及制造有一定的参考价值。

基于FDSOI的TFET和MOSFET总剂量效应仿真

对基于全耗尽绝缘体上硅(FDSOI)的隧穿场效应晶体管(TFET)器件和金属氧化物半导体场效应晶体管(MOSFET)器件进行了总剂量(TID)效应仿真,基于两种器件不同的工作原理,研究了总剂量效应对两种器件造成的电学影响,分析了辐照前后TFET和MOSFET的能带结构、载流子密度等关键因素的变化。仿真结果表明:两种器件在受到较大辐射剂量时(1 Mrad (Si)),TFET受辐射引起的固定电荷影响较小,仍能保持较好的开关特性、稳定的阈值电压;而MOSFET则受固定电荷的影响较大,出现了背部导电沟道,其关态电流增加了几个数量级,开关特性发生了严重退化,阈值电压也严重地向负电压偏移。此外,TFET的开态电流会随着辐照剂量的增加而减小,这与MOSFET的表现恰好相反。因此TFET比MOSFET有更好的抗总剂量效应能力。

NOR logic function of a bendable combination of tunneling field-effect transistors with silicon nanowire channels

In this study, we propose a novel combination of tunneling field-effect transistors （TFETs） with asymmetrically doped p^＋-i-n^＋ silicon nanowire （SiNW） channels on a bendable substrate. The combination of two n-channel SiNW-TFETs （NWTFETs） in parallel and two p-channel NWTFETs in series operates as a two-input NOR logic gate. The component NWTFETs with the n- and p-channels exhibit subthreshold swings （SSs） of 69 and 53 mV·dec^-1, respectively, and the on/off current ratios are -106. The NOR logic operation is sustainable and reproducible for up to 1,000 bending cycles with a narrow transition width of -0.26 V. The mechanical bendability of the bendable NWTFETs shows that they are stable and have good fatigue properties. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on the electrical and mechanical characteristics of a bendable NOR logic gate composed of NWTFETs.

具有夹层的垂直U型栅极TFET的设计

通过使用工艺计算机辅助设计(TCAD)仿真技术提出了一种新型的带有夹层的垂直U型栅极隧穿场效应晶体管(TFET)结构。该器件是通过优化基于Ge的栅极金属核垂直纳米线TFET结构获得的。通过在沟道中增加重掺杂夹层,器件的平均亚阈值摆幅(SS_(avg))得到了改善;又通过改变器件的源极和漏极材料,器件的开关电流比(I_(on)/I_(off))得到了改善。对夹层的掺杂浓度和厚度以及沟道的高度也进行了优化。最终优化后的器件开态电流为220μA/μm,关态电流为3.08×10^(-10)μA/μm,SS_(avg)为8.6 mV/dec,表现出了优越的性能。与初始器件相比,该器件的SS_(avg)减小了77%,I_(on)/I_(off)增加了两个数量级以上。此外,提出了针对该器件的可行的制备工艺步骤。因此,认为该器件是在超低功耗应用中非常具有潜力的候选器件。