Ideal rectangular cross-section Si-Fin channel double-gate MOSFETs fabricated using orientation-dependent wet etching

Ultranarrow and ideal rectangular cross section silicon(Si)-Fin channel double-gate MOSFETs (FXMOSFETs) have successfully been fabricated for the first time using [110]-oriented silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and orientation-dependent wet etching. The transconductance (g/sub m/) normalized by 2/spl times/(Fin height) is found to be as high as 700 /spl mu/S//spl mu/m at V/sub d/=1 V in the fabricated 13-nm-thick and 82-nm-high Si- Fin channel double-gate MOSFET with a 105-nm gate length and a 2.2-nm gate oxide. The almost-ideal S-slope of 64 mV/decade is demonstrated in a 145-nm gate length device. These excellent results show that the Si-Fin channel with smooth [111]-oriented sidewalls is suitable to realize a high-performance FXMOSFET. The short-channel effects (SCEs) are effectively suppressed by reducing the Si-Fin thickness to 23 nm or less.     

Scaling fully depleted SOI CMOS

Quasi-two-dimensional (2-D) device analyses, 2-D numerical device simulations, and circuit simulations of nanoscale conventional, single-gate fully depleted (FD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS are done to examine the scalability and performance potential of the technology. The quasi-2-D analyses, which can apply to double-gate devices as well, also provide a simple expression to estimate the effective channel length (L/sub eff/) of FD/SOI MOSFETs. The insightful results show that threshold-voltage control via channel doping and polysilicon gates is not a viable option for extremely scaled FD/SOI CMOS, and hence that undoped channels and metal gate(s) with tuned work function(s) must be employed. Quantitative as well as qualitative insights gained on the short-channel effects reveal the need for ultrathin films (t/sub Si/ < 10 nm) for L/sub eff/ < 50 nm. However, the implied manufacturing burden, compounded by effects of carrier-energy quantization for ultrathin t/sub Si/, forces a pragmatic limit on t/sub Si/ of about 5 nm, which in turn limits the scalability to L/sub eff/ = 25-30 nm. Unloaded CMOS-inverter ring-oscillator simulations, done with our process/physics-based compact model (UFDG) in SPICE3, show very good performance for L/sub eff/ = 35 nm, and suggest viable technology designs for low-power as well as high-performance applications. These simulations also reveal that moderate variations in t/sub Si/ can be tolerated, and that the energy quantization significantly influences the scaled-technology performance and hence must be properly accounted for in optimal FD/SOI MOSFET design.     

Clarification of floating-body effects on drive current and shortchannel effect in deep sub-0.25 μm partially depleted SOIMOSFETs

We point out for the first time that floating-body effects cause the reduction of the saturation drive current in partially depleted (PD) Sol MOSFETs. It is demonstrated that when the channel concentration of the SOI MOSFETs is set higher in order to suppress the increase of the off current caused by floating-body effects, the drive current decreases due to the large body effect. In the conventional SOI structure where the source-drain junction is in contact with the buried oxide, the 0.18 μm floating PD SOI MOSFET suffers around 17% decrease in the drive current under the same threshold voltage (V_th) in comparison with body-fixed one. However, floating ID SOI MOSFETs show smaller V_th-roll-off. Further considering the short channel effect down to the minimum gate length of 0.16 μm, the current decrease becomes 6%. Also, we propose a floating PD SOI MOSFET with shallow source-drain junction (SSD) structure to suppress the floating-body effects. By using the SSD structure, we confirmed an increase in the drive current     

A 0.5-V 25-MHz 1-mW 256-kb MTCMOS/SOI SRAM for solar-power-operated portable personal digital equipment - sure write operation by using step-down negatively overdriven bitline scheme

Multithreshold-voltage CMOS (MTCMOS) technology has a great advantage in that it provides high-speed operation with low supply voltages of less than 1 V. A logic gate with low-V/sub th/ MOSFETs has a high operating speed, while a low-leakage power switch with a high-V/sub th/ MOSFET eliminates the off-leakage current during sleep time. By using MTCMOS circuits and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices, the authors have developed a 256-kb SRAM for solar-power-operated digital equipment. A double-threshold-voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) is adopted for the power switch to further reduce the off leakage. As regards the SRAM core design, we consider a hybrid configuration consisting of high-V/sub th/ and low-V/sub th/ MOSFETs (that is, multi-V/sub th/ CMOS). A new memory cell with a separate read-data path provides a larger readout current without degrading the static noise margin. A negatively overdriven bitline scheme guarantees sure write operation at ultralow supply voltages close to 0.5 V. In addition, a charge-transfer amplifier integrated with a selector and data latches for intrabus circuitry are installed to enhance the operating speed and/or reduce power dissipation. A 32K-word /spl times/ 8-bit SRAM chip, fabricated with the 0.35-/spl mu/m multi-V/sub th/ CMOS/SOI process, has successfully operated at 25 MHz under typical conditions with 0.5-V (SRAM core) and 1-V (I/O buffers) power supplies. The power dissipation during sleep time is less than 0.4 /spl mu/W and that for 25-MHz operation is 1 mW, excluding that of the I/O buffers.     

A Review of Core Compact Models for Undoped Double-Gate SOI MOSFETs

In this paper, we review the compact-modeling framework for undoped double-gate (DG) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs. The use of multiple gates has emerged as a new technology to possibly replace the conventional planar MOSFET when its feature size is scaled to the sub-50-nm regime. MOSFET technology has been the choice for mainstream digital circuits for very large scale integration as well as for other high-frequency applications in the low-gigahertz range. But the continuing scaling of MOSFET presents many challenges, and multiple-gate, particularly DG, SOI devices seem to be attractive alternatives as they can effectively reduce the short-channel effects and yield higher current drive. Core compact models, including the analysis for surface potential and drain-current, for both the symmetric and asymmetric DG SOI MOSFETs, are discussed and compared. Numerical simulations are also included in order to assess the validity of the models reviewed     

A device design methodology for sub-100-nm SOC applications using bulk and SOI MOSFETs

CMOS for the mixed-mode applications has gained much interest recently. While the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors provides two different scaling guidelines for the analog and digital circuit operation using the bulk MOSFET, there are no well-defined scaling guidelines for improving the analog performance of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs. This paper presents a systematic and quantitative comparison between the analog characteristics of the bulk and SOI technology. The intrinsic gain, f/sub T/ and g/sub m//I/sub ds/ ratio are considered as a metric for this comparison. It is shown that, even for the operating frequencies in the range of gigahertz (where the ac kink effect is suppressed), analog performance of SOI devices is inferior to that of the bulk devices due to the capacitive drain-to-body coupling. Based on our study, we show that hat the gate-workfunction engineering (close to mid-gap workfunction) is essential in fully depleted SOI (FDSOI) devices for improving analog performance. The analog performance of partially depleted SOI (PDSOI) devices can be improved by using body-tied structures. An increased gate control in double-gate MOSFETs can provide very high output resistance for short-channel devices.     

Improvement of performance deviation and productivity of MOSFETs with gate length below 30 nm by flash lamp annealing

The impact of new flash lamp annealing (FLA) technology, which both minimizes diffusion to yield a shallow junction and realizes low sheet resistivity, is investigated based on MOSFET fabrication and computer simulations. Productivity can be improved since FLA makes it possible to employ higher acceleration energy ion implantation and higher throughput. The MOSFET performance can be improved and its deviation suppressed by using FLA. In analyzing MOSFETs with gate length (L) of 20 nm by computer simulations, it was clarified that in contrast to spike annealing, the shallow junction realized by applying FLA to pMOSFET fabrication enabled the suppression of |I/sub off/| with a low channel surface dopant concentration. This provided a higher mobility value and a higher drive current. FLA is promising for improving the performance and productivity of sub-30-nm gate-length MOSFETs.     

A continuous, analytic drain-current model for DG MOSFETs

This letter presents a continuous analytic current-voltage (I-V) model for double-gate (DG) MOSFETs. It is derived from closed-form solutions of Poisson's equation, and current continuity equation without the charge-sheet approximation. The entire I/sub ds/(V/sub g/,V/sub ds/) characteristics for all regions of MOSFET operation: linear, saturation, and subthreshold, are covered under one continuous function, making it ideally suited for compact modeling. By preserving the proper physics, this model readily depicts "volume inversion" in symmetric DG MOSFETs-a distinctively noncharge-sheet phenomenon that cannot be reproduced by standard charge-sheet based I-V models. It is shown that the I-V curves generated by the analytic model are in complete agreement with two-dimensional numerical simulation results for all ranges of gate and drain voltages.     

Performance comparison of channel engineered deep sub-micrometer pseudo SOI n-MOSFETs

In this paper, with the help of extensive TCAD simulations, a novel channel and source/drain (S/D) impurity profile engineering has been proposed for pseudo SOI MOSFET structures in order to reduce their junction capacitances. It has been shown that this approach leads to improved performance and lower power dissipation for sub 100 nm CMOS technologies. These pseudo SOI structures studied in this work are referred to as the Source Drain On Depletion Layer (SDODEL) MOSFETs in the earlier studies. We have investigated DC characteristics and analog performance parameters in Single Halo SDODEL MOSFET, Double Halo SDODEL MOSFET and compared their performance with Double Halo MOSFETs (which will henceforth be referred to as Control MOSFETs) with extensive process and device simulations. Our results shows that, in Single Halo SDODEL MOSFET there is significant improvement in the intrinsic device performance for analog applications (such as device gain, g_m/I_D etc.) for the sub 100 nm technologies.     

FinFET-a self-aligned double-gate MOSFET scalable to 20 nm

MOSFETs with gate length down to 17 nm are reported. To suppress the short channel effect, a novel self-aligned double-gate MOSFET, FinFET, is proposed. By using boron-doped Si/sub 0.4/Ge/sub 0.6/ as a gate material, the desired threshold voltage was achieved for the ultrathin body device. The quasiplanar nature of this new variant of the vertical double-gate MOSFETs can be fabricated relatively easily using the conventional planar MOSFET process technologies.     

A novel double gate MOSFET by symmetrical insulator packets with improved short channel effects

In this article, we study a novel double-gate SOI MOSFET structure incorporating insulator packets (IPs) at the junction between channel and source/drain (S/D) ends. The proposed MOSFET has great strength in inhibiting short channel effects and OFF-state current that are the main problems compared with conventional one due to the significant suppressed penetrations of both the lateral electric field and the carrier diffusion from the S/D into the channel. Improvement of the hot electron reliability, the ON to OFF drain current ratio, drain-induced barrier lowering, gate-induced drain leakage and threshold voltage over conventional double-gate SOI MOSFETs, i.e. without IPs, is displayed with the simulation results. This study is believed to improve the CMOS device reliability and is suitable for the low-power very-large-scale integration circuits.     

Investigation of the source/drain asymmetric effects due to gate misalignment in planar double-gate MOSFETs

A planar double-gate SOI MOSFET (DG-SOI) with thin channel and thick source/drain (S/D) was successfully fabricated. Using both experimental data and simulation results, the S/D asymmetric effect induced by gate misalignment was studied. For a misaligned DG-SOI, there is gate nonoverlapped region on one side and extra gate overlapped region on the other side. The nonoverlapped region introduces extra series resistance and weakly controlled channel, while the extra overlapped region introduces additional overlap capacitance and gate leakage current. We compared two cases: bottom gate shift to source side (DG/spl I.bar/S) and bottom gate shift to drain side (DG/spl I.bar/D). At the same gate misalignment value, DG/spl I.bar/S resulted in a larger drain-induced barrier lowering effect and smaller overlap capacitance at drain side than DG/spl I.bar/D. Because of reduced drain-side capacitance, the speed of three-stage ring oscillator of DG/spl I.bar/S, with 20% gate misalignment length (L/sub mis/) over gate length (L/sub g/), or L/sub mis//L/sub g/=20%, was faster than that of two-gate aligned DG-SOI.     

On the scaling limit of ultrathin SOI MOSFETs

In this paper, a detailed study on the scaling limit of ultrathin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs is presented. Due to the penetration of lateral source/drain fields into standard thick buried oxide, the scale-length theory does not apply to thin SOI MOSFETs. An extensive two-dimensional device simulation shows that for a thin gate insulator, the minimum channel length can be expressed as L/sub min//spl ap/4.5(t/sub Si/+(/spl epsiv//sub Si///spl epsiv//sub I/)t/sub I/), where t/sub Si/ is the silicon thickness, and /spl epsiv//sub I/ and t/sub I/ are the permittivity and thickness of the gate insulator. With t/sub Si/ limited to /spl ges/ 2 nm from quantum mechanical and threshold considerations, a scaling limit of L/sub min/=20 nm is projected for oxides, and L/sub min/=10 nm for high-/spl kappa/ dielectrics. The effect of body doping has also been investigated. It has no significant effect on the scaling limit.     

Molybdenum gate technology for ultrathin-body MOSFETs and FinFETs

Damage-free sputter deposition and highly selective dry-etch processes have been developed for molybdenum (Mo) metal gate technology, for application to fully depleted silicon-on-insulator ( devices such as the ultrathin body (UTB) MOSFET and double-gate FinFET. A plasma charge trap effectively eliminates high-energy particle bombardment during Mo sputtering; hence the gate-dielectric integrity (TDDB, Q/sub BD/) is significantly improved and the field-effect mobility in Mo-gated MOSFETs follows the universal mobility curve. The effects of etch process parameters such as chlorine (Cl/sub 2/) and oxygen (O/sub 2/) gas flow rate, and source and bias radio frequence powers, were investigated in order to optimize the Mo etch rate and selectivity to SiO/sub 2/. A highly selective etch process was successfully applied to pattern Mo gate electrodes for UTB MOSFETs and FinFETs without leaving any residue or stringers. Measured electrical characteristics and physical analysis results are discussed.     

SODEL FET: novel channel and source/drain profile engineering schemes by selective Si epitaxial growth technology

In this paper, novel channel and source/drain profile engineering schemes are proposed for sub-50-nm bulk CMOS applications. This device, referred to as the silicon-on-depletion layer FET (SODEL FET), has the depletion layer beneath the channel region, which works as an insulator like a buried oxide in a silicon-on-insulator MOSFET. Thanks to this channel structure, junction capacitance (C/sub j/) has been reduced in SODEL FET, i.e., C/sub j/ (area) was /spl sim/0.73 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ both in SODEL nFET and pFET at Vbias =0.0 V. The body effect coefficient /spl gamma/ is also reduced to less than 0.02 V/sup 1/2/. Nevertheless, current drives of 886 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m (I/sub off/=15 nA//spl mu/m) in nFET and -320 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m (I/sub off/=10 nA//spl mu/m) in pFET have been achieved in 70-nm gate length SODEL CMOS with |V/sub dd/|=1.2 V. New circuit design schemes are also proposed for high-performance and low-power CMOS applications using the combination of SODEL FETs and bulk FETs on the same chip for 90-nm-node generation and beyond.     

Analytical modeling of drain current and RF performance for double-gate fully depleted nanoscale SOI MOSFETs

A new 2D analytical drain current model is presented for symmetric double-gate fully depleted nanoscale SOI MOSFETs. Investigation of device parameters like transconductance for double-gate fully depleted nanoscale SOI MOSFETs is also carried out. Finally this work is concluded by modeling the cut-off frequency, which is one of the main figures of merit for analog/RF performance for double-gate fully depleted nanoscale SOI MOSFETs. The results of the modeling are compared with those obtained by a 2D ATLAS device simulator to verify the accuracy of the proposed model.     

Demonstration, analysis, and device design considerations for independent DG MOSFETs

This paper describes a comprehensive study on the threshold voltage (V/sub th/) controllability of four-terminal-driven double-gate (DG) MOSFETs (4T-XMOSFETs) with independently switched DGs. Two types of 4T-XMOSFETs (fin and vertical) are experimentally demonstrated and their V/sub th/ controllability is thoroughly investigated in relation to the initial V/sub th/ in the DG-mode based on comprehensible modeling of the devices. Based on the investigation and simulated predictions, device design guidelines for 4T-XMOSFETs are proposed. Decreasing the workfunction of the DGs and increasing the oxide thickness of the second gate (T/sub ox2/) are preferable for improving the performance of the 4T-XMOSFET. The optimum workfunction of DGs for attaining low I/sub off(stand-by)/ and high I/sub on(active)/ under the limited V/sub g2/ condition is also proposed.     

Implementation and characterization of the double-gate MOSFET using lateral solid-phase epitaxy

In this paper, a simple high performance double-gate metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) using lateral solid-phase epitaxy (LSPE) is experimentally demonstrated and characterized. The thin channel of the double-gate MOSFET was obtained using the high quality LSPE crystallized layer. The fabricated double-gate MOSFET provides good current drive capability and steep subthreshold slope, and they are approximately 350 /spl mu/A//spl mu/m (@ V/sub ds/ = 2.5 V and V/sub gs/ - V/sub T/ = 2.5 V) and 78 mV/dec for the devices with 0.5 /spl mu/m channel length. Compared to the conventional single-gate transistor, the double-gate NMOSFET fabricated on the LSPE layer has better V/sub T/ roll-off characteristics, DIBL effect, and 1.72 times higher current drive. The peak effective electron mobility of the LSPE crystallized layer is approximately 382 cm/sup -2//V.s.     

FinFET design considerations based on 3-D simulation and analytical modeling

Design considerations of the FinFET have been investigated by three-dimensional (3-D) simulation and analytical modeling in this paper. Short-channel effects (SCE) of the FinFET can be reasonably controlled by reducing either silicon fin height or fin thickness. Analytical solution of 3-D Laplace's equation is employed to establish the design equations for the subthreshold behavior in the fully depleted silicon fins. Based on the 3-D analytical electrostatic potential in the subthreshold region, the threshold voltage (V/sub th/) roll-off and the subthreshold swing (S) are estimated by considering the source barrier changes in the most leaky channel path. V/sub th/ roll-off is an exponential function of the ratio of effective channel length to drain potential decay length, which can then be expressed as a function of the fin thickness, the fin height and the gate oxide thickness. The drain-potential decay lengths of single-gate fully depleted SOI MOSFET (FDFET), double-gate MOSFET (DGFET), rectangular surrounding-gate MOSFET (SGFET), and FinFET are compared. The drain potential scaling length and V/sub th/ roll-off can be included into a universal relation for convenient comparison.