Improved performance of nanoscale junctionless transistor based on gate engineering approach

In this paper, we propose an effective method to improve the electrical characteristics of dual-material-gate (DMG) junctionless transistor (JLT) based on gate engineering approach, with the example of n-type double gate (DG) JLT with total channel length down to 30 nm. The characteristics are demonstrated and compared with conventional DMG DGJLT and single-material gate (SMG) DGJLT. The results show that the novel DMG DGJLT presents superior subthreshold swing (SS), drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL), transconductance (G_m), ON/OFF current ratio, and intrinsic delay (τ). Moreover, these unique features can be controlled by engineering the length and workfunction of the gate material. In addition, the sensitivities of the novel DMG device with respect to structural parameters are investigated.     

Impact of high-k gate dielectric on analog and RF performance of nanoscale DG-MOSFET

Now a days, high-k dielectrics have been investigated as an alternative to Silicon dioxide (SiO₂) based gate dielectric for nanoscale semiconductor devices. This paper is an attempt to characterize the analog and RF performance of the high-k metal gate (HKMG) double gate (DG) metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) in nanoscale through 2-D device simulation. The results demonstrates the impact of high-k oxide layer as single and gate stack (GS). The key idea behind this investigation is to provide a physical explanation for the improved analog and RF performance exhibited by the device. The major figures of merit (FOMs) studied in this paper are transconductance (g_m), output conductance (g_d), transconductance generation factor (g_m/I_D), early voltage (V_EA), intrinsic gain (A_V), cut off frequency (f_T), transconductance frequency product (TFP), gain frequency product (GFP) and gain transconductance frequency product (GTFP). The effects of downscaling of channel length (L) on analog performance of the proposed devices have also been presented. It has been observed that the performance enhancement of GS configurations (k=7.5 i.e device D5 in the study) is encouraging as far as the nanoscale DG-MOSFET is concerned. Also it significantly reduces the short channel effects (SCEs). Parameters like DC gain of (91.257 dB, 43.436 dB), nearly ideal values (39.765 V⁻¹, 39.589 V⁻¹) of TGF, an early voltage of (2.73 V, 16.897 V), cutoff frequency (294 GHz, 515.5 GHz) and GTFP of (5.14×10⁵ GHz/V, 1.72×10⁵ GHz/V) for two different values of V_DS=0.1 V and 0.5 V respectively are found to be close to ideal values. Analysis shows an opportunity for realizing high performance analog and RF circuits with the device proposed in this paper i.e. device D5.     

Immunity against temperature variability and bias point invariability in double gate tunnel field effect transistor

The weak dependence of the Tunnel Field Effect Transistor (TFET) device characteristics on temperature provides an edge over the conventional MOSFETs in terms of its reliable operation over a wide temperature range applications. This study focusses on the analog/RF performance comparison of DG-TFET and DG-MOSFET, and the impact of temperature variations on some of the key parameters like VIP₃ and intrinsic device gain (g_m * R_out) and the variation of the optimum bias point. In the study of linearity and analog performance, g_m3 (third order derivative of I_ds ? V_gs), VIP₃ in conjunction with intrinsic gain are considered to select the optimum bias point to achieve high gain and better linearity performance. The impact of temperature variations on the ambipolar behavior of a TFET has also been studied.     

Source/drain extension region engineering in nanoscale double gate SOI MOSFETs: Novel design methodology for low-voltage analog applications

The present paper proposes for the first time, a novel design methodology based on the optimization of source/drain extension (SDE) regions to significantly improve the trade-off between intrinsic voltage gain (A_VO) and cut-off frequency (f_T) in nanoscale double gate (DG) devices. Our results show that an optimally designed 25 nm gate length SDE region engineered DG MOSFET operating at drain current of 10 μA/μm, exhibits up to 65% improvement in intrinsic voltage gain and 85% in cut-off frequency over devices designed with abrupt SDE regions. The influence of spacer width, lateral source/drain doping gradient and symmetric as well as asymmetrically designed SDE regions on key analog figures of merit (FOM) such as transconductance (g_m), transconductance-to-current ratio (g_m/I_ds), Early voltage (V_EA), output conductance (g_ds) and gate capacitances are examined in detail. The present work provides new opportunities for realizing future low-voltage/low-power analog circuits with nanoscale SDE engineered DG MOSFETs.     

Underlap channel metal source/drain SOI MOSFET for thermally efficient low-power mixed-signal circuits

In this paper it has been shown that employing an underlap channel created by varying the lateral doping straggle in dopant-segregated Schottky barrier SOI MOSFET not only improves the scalability but also suppresses the self-heating effect of this device. Although in strong inversion region the reduced effective gate voltage due to voltage drop across the underlap lengths reduces the drive current, in weak/moderate inversion region defined at I_D=5 μA/μm and V_DS=0.5 V the analog figures of merit such as transconductance, transconductance generation factor and intrinsic gain of the proposed underlap device are improved by 15%, 35% and 20%, respectively over the conventional overlap channel structure. In addition to this, at V_DD=0.5 V the gain-bandwidth product in a common-source amplifier based on proposed underlap device is improved by ～20% over an amplifier based on the conventional overlap channel device. The mixed-mode device/circuit simulation results of CMOS inverter, NAND and the NOR gates based on these devices also show that at V_DD=0.5 V the switching energy, static power dissipation and the propagation delay in the case of proposed underlap device are reduced by ～10%, ～35% and ～25%, respectively, over the conventional overlap device. Thus, significant improvement in analog figures of merit and the reduction in digital design metrics at lower supply voltage show the suitability of the proposed underlap device for low-power mixed-signal circuits.     

Simulation study of Insulated Shallow Extension Silicon On Nothing (ISESON) MOSFET for high temperature applications

This paper analyzes the effect of temperature variation on various device architectures i.e. Insulated Shallow Extension Silicon On Nothing (ISESON), ISE and SON MOSFET using ATLAS 3D device simulator for 45 nm gate length. The simulation results obtained with the ATLAS has been validated by comparing it with reported experimental data of SON MOSFET. The simulation results demonstrate that out of three device designs, the ISESON MOSFET is the most suitable device for high speed, low voltage and high temperature applications. The integration of ISE and SON onto the conventional bulk MOSFET leads to the enhancement in analog device performance in terms of device efficiency (g_m/I_ds), device gain (g_m/g_d), output resistance (R_out) and early voltage (V_ea).     

Impact of the lateral straggle on the Analog and RF performance of TFET

In this work, the effect of the variation in lateral straggle on TFETs performance is demonstrated. The ion implantation technique during fabrication process causes the extension of dopants from source/drain region towards the channel. Even though the use of non-zero tilt angle at the time of ion implantation is necessary to avoid the channeling effect, however, series resistance, threshold voltage roll offs, switching speed and effective channel length of the device get affected by the non abrupt doping profile at the source/drain-body junction. It is established earlier that TFET is very convenient for Analog/RF application owing to its below 60 mV/decade subthreshold swing and reduced short channel effects. In order to show the effect of lateral straggle on TFET’s performance, various Analog figure of merits (FOMs) such as drain current (I_d), transconductance (g_m), transconductance generation factor (g_m/I_d), output resistance (R_o), intrinsic gain (g_mR_o) and RF figure of merits (FOMs) like unity gain cutoff frequency (f_T), transit frequency of maximum available power gain (f_MAX) are investigated for the variation in straggle parameter from 0 nm to 5 nm in order to optimize the device performance. The circuit performance of the device for different lateral straggle is carried out using common source amplifier.     

Impact of gate material engineering(GME) on analog/RF performance of nanowire Schottky-barrier gate all around (GAA) MOSFET for low power wireless applications: 3D T-CAD simulation

In this paper Gate Material Engineered (GME) Gate-Stack (GS) silicon nanowire Schottky-Barrier (SB) Gate All Around (GAA) MOSFET and Single Material Gate Stack Schottky-Barrier Source/Drain Gate All Around (SM-GS-SB-S/D GAA) structures are proposed for low- power wireless applications. The Analog/RF performance for wireless applications of these devices are demonstrated. The effect of Schottky-Barrier (Metal) S/D is studied for Single Metal (SM)–SB-GAA, (Dual Metal) DM-SB-GAA, SM-GS-SB-GAA and GME-GS-SB-GAA MOSFETs, and it is found that GME-GS-SB-GAA MOSFET with metal drain source shows much improved performance in terms of transconductance (g_m), output conductance (g_d), Early Voltage (V_EA), Maximum Transducer Power Gain, cut-off frequency (f_T), and I_on/I_off ratio. Further, harmonic distortion for wireless applications is also studied using ATLAS-3D device simulator. Due to low parasitic S/D resistance the metal Source/Drain DM-GS-SB-S/D-GAA MOSFET demonstrates remarkable I_on of~31.8 μA/μm and saturation transconductance g_m of~68.2 μS with improved third order derivative of transconductance g_m3.     

Study of body and oxide thickness variation on analog and RF performance of underlap DG-MOSFETs

The underlap double gate MOSFET (UDG-MOSFET) has been well established as a potential candidate for the RF applications. However, before implementation the various process related variations are required to be addressed for the better dependability. In this paper, the effect of process dependent parameter variations on the RF performance of the UDG-MOSFET is analyzed. The process dependent parameters considered are the oxide and the body thicknesses. The RF performance of UDG-MOSFET is analyzed as a function of RF figure of merits (FOMs), intrinsic capacitance (C_gs, C_gd), intrinsic resistance (R_gs, R_gd), transport delay (τ_m), inductance (L_sd) and analog FOMs transconductance (g_m), transconductance generation factor (g_m/I_d), output resistance (R_o) and intrinsic gain (g_mR_o). The analysis is performed using the non-quasi static (NQS) small signal model of the UDG-MOSFET.     

Investigation and comparison of analog figures-of-merit for TFET and FinFET considering work-function variation

This paper investigates and compares the impacts of metal-gate work-function variation on important analog figures-of-merit (FOMs) for TFET and FinFET devices using 3-D atomistic TCAD simulations. Our study indicates that, at 0.6 V supply voltage and 0.2 V gate-voltage overdrive, TFET exhibits superior variation immunity regarding transconductance to drain–current ratio (g_m/I_DS), output resistance (R_out) and intrinsic gain, and comparable variability in g_m and cutoff frequency (f_T) as compared with the FinFET counterparts. In addition, how the correlations between pertinent parameters (e.g., g_m and R_out) impact the variation immunity of important analog FOMs are analyzed. Our study may provide insights for low-voltage analog design using TFET/FinFET technologies.     

Characterization of P-channel power trench MOSFETs with polycrystalline silicon germanium gate electrode for faster switching

Electrical switching characteristics using polycrystalline silicon–germanium (poly-Si_l?xGe_x) gate for P-channel power trench MOSFETs was investigated. Switching time reduction of over 22% was observed when the boron-doped poly-Si gate was replaced with a similarly boron-doped poly-SiGe gate on the P-channel power MOSFETs. The fall time (T_f) on MOSFETs with poly-SiGe gate, was found to be ～11 ns lesser than the poly-Si gate MOSFET which is ～60% improvement in switching performance. However, all the switching improvement was observed during the fall times (T_f). The reason could be the higher series resistance in the switching test circuit masking any reduction in the rise times (T_r). Faster switching is achieved due to a lower gate resistance (R_g) offered by the poly-SiGe gate electrode as compared to poly-silicon (pSi) material. The pSi gate resistance was found to be 6.25 Ω compared to 3.75 Ω on the poly-SiGe gate measured on the same device. Lower gate resistance (R_g) also means less power is lost during switching thereby less heat is generated in the device. A very uniform boron doping profile was achieved with-in the pSiGe gate electrode, which is critical for uniform die turn on and better thermal response for the power trench MOSFET. pSiGe thin film optimization, properties and device characteristics are discussed in details in the following sections.     

Analysis of flicker and thermal noise in p-channel Underlap DG FinFET

In this paper, we analyze the flicker and thermal noise model for underlap p-channel DG FinFET in weak inversion region. During the analysis of current and charge model, minimum channel potential i.e. virtual source is considered. Initially, the drain current for both long and short channel of DG FinFET are evaluated and found to be well interpreted with experimental results. Further, the flicker and thermal noise spectral density are derived. The flicker noise power spectral density is compared with published experimental results, which shows a good agreement between proposed model and experimental result. During calculation we have considered variation of scattering parameter and furthermore, the degradation of effective mobility is taken into account for ultrathin body. The variation of structural parameters such as gate length (L_g), body thickness (t_Si) and underlap length (L_un) are also considered. The degradation of gate noise voltage with frequency, underlap length and gate length signify that p-channel DG FinFET device can be a promising candidate for analog and RF applications.     

Challenges and performance limitations of high-k and oxynitride gate dielectrics for 90/65 nm CMOS technology

For low power applications, the increase of gate leakage current, caused by direct tunneling in ultra-thin oxide films, is the crucial factor eliminating conventional SiO₂-based gate dielectrics in sub-90 nm CMOS technology development. Recently, promising performance has been demonstrated for poly-Si/high-k and poly-Si/SiON gate stacks in addressing gate leakage requirements for low power applications. However, the use of poly-Si gate electrodes on high-k created additional issues such as channel mobility and reliability degradations, as well as Fermi level pinning of the effective gate work function. Therefore, oxynitride gate dielectrics are being proposed as an intermediate solution toward the sub-65/45 nm nodes. Apparently, an enhanced SiON gate dielectric stack was developed and reported to achieve high dielectric constant and good interfacial properties. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review some of the device performance and limitation that high-k and oxynitride as dielectric materials are facing for sub-65/45 nm node.     

Device linearity and intermodulation distortion comparison of dual material gate and conventional AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor

In the work proposed, linearity performance of dual material gate (DMG) AlGaN/GaN HEMT has been analyzed and compared with the corresponding performance of Single Material Gate (SMG) AlGaN/GaN HEMT using ATLAS device simulation. Specifically, we investigate the linearity of DMG and conventional AlGaN/GaN HEMT based on the linearity metrics such as g_m, g_m2, g_m3, VIP₂, VIP₃, IIP₃, IMD₃ and 1-dB compression point. The impact of various device parameters on the device linearity such as the channel length, doping and thickness of the barrier and spacer layer, Al mole fraction and the work function difference of the two gate metals has also been investigated. It is observed that a suitably designed DMG AlGaN/GaN HEMT can considerably improve the linearity performance and minimize intermodulation distortion due to reduced drain induced barrier lowering and high-field effect; and a more uniform electric field for applications in 3-G mobile communication and low noise amplifiers.     

Effect of Halo structure variations on the threshold voltage of a 22 nm gate length NMOS transistor

This paper reports on the effects of the Halo structure variations on threshold voltage (V_th) in a 22 nm gate length high-k/metal gate planar NMOS transistor. Since the V_th is one of the important physical parameter for determining the functionality of complementary metal-oxide–semiconductor device, this experiment will focus on finding the best combination on process parameter to achieve the best value of V_th. The Halo structure variable process parameters are the Halo implantation dose, the Halo implantation tilting angle, the Source/Drain implantation dose and the compensation implantation dose. The design of the planar device consists of a combination of high permittivity material (high-k) and a metal gate. Titanium dioxide was used as the high-k material instead of the traditional SiO₂ dielectric and tungsten silicide was used as the metal gate. The optimization process was executed using Taguchi's L₉ array to obtain a robust design. Taguchi's Nominal-the-Best signal-to-noise ratio was used in an effort to minimize the variance of V_th. The results show that the V_th values have least variance and the mean value can be adjusted to 0.289 V±12.7% which is in line with projections made by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors.     

Analytical surface potential modeling and simulation of junction-less double gate (JLDG) MOSFET for ultra low-power analog/RF circuits

In this paper, a simple structure for short channel junction-less double gate (JLDG) MOSFET is proposed. Further expression for surface potential of JLDG has been derived using 2D Poisson׳s equation. Based on the proposed analytical model for surface potential distribution along channel thickness and channel length is derived. The proposed junction-less MOSFET has no p-n junction as the doping of channel is same to that of Source/Drain region. The analytical model is compared with numerical solution using ATLAS device simulator. The result shows the variation of channel potential with channel length, channel thickness, doping concentration and applied gate bias. Further, in this paper the analog performance and RF figure of merits (FOMs) have been investigated. The purpose of this research is to provide a physical explanation for improved analog and RF performance exhibited by the device. In this paper major FOMs such as trans-conductance (g_m), output conductance (g_d), early voltage (V_EA), intrinsic gain (A_V), trans-conductance generation factor (TGF), cut-off frequency (f_T), trans-conductance frequency product (TFP), gain frequency product (GFP), gain trans-conductance frequency product (GTFP) are analyzed. The simulation result shows that the JLDG exhibit a higher trans-conductance, higher cut-off frequency and lower drain conductance.     

The impact of gate misalignment on the analog performance of a dual-material double gate junctionless transistor

The analog performance of gate misaligned dual material double gate junctionless transistor is demonstrated for the first time. The cases considered are where misalignment occurs towards source side and towards drain side. The analog performance parameters analyzed are: transconductance, output conductance, intrinsic gain and cut-off frequency. These figures of merits (FOMs) are compared with a dual material double gate inversion mode transistor under same gate misalignment condition. The impacts of different length of control gate (L₁) for a given gate length (L) are also studied and the optimum lengths L₁ under misalignment condition to have better analog FOMs and high tolerance to misalignment are presented.     

Effect of underlap and gate length on device performance of an AlInN/GaN underlap MOSFET

We investigate the performance of an 18 nm gate length AlInN/GaN heterostructure underlap double gate MOSFET, using 2D Sentaurus TCAD simulation. The device uses lattice-matched wideband Al_0.83In_0.17N and narrowband GaN layers, along with high-k Al₂O₃ as the gate dielectric. The device has an ultrathin body and is designed according to the ITRS specifications. The simulation is done using the hydrodynamic model and interface traps are also considered. Due to the large two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density and high velocity, the maximal drain current density achieved is very high. Extensive device simulation of the major device performance metrics such as drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL), subthreshold slope (SS), delay, threshold voltage (V_t), I_on/I_off ratio and energy delay product have been done for a wide range of gate and underlap lengths. Encouraging results for delay, I_on, DIBL and energy delay product are obtained. The results indicate that there is a need to optimize the I_off and SS values for specific logic design. The proposed AlInN/GaN heterostructure underlap DG MOSFET shows excellent promise as one of the candidates to substitute currently used MOSFETs for future high speed applications.     

Effect of gate length in InAs/AlSb HEMTs biased for low power or high gain

The effect of gate-length variation on DC and RF performance of InAs/AlSb HEMTs, biased for low DC power consumption or high gain, is reported. Simultaneously fabricated devices, with gate lengths between 225 nm and 335 nm, have been compared. DC measurements revealed higher output conductance g_ds and slightly increased impact ionization with reduced gate length. When reducing the gate length from 335 nm to 225 nm, the DC power consumption was reduced by approximately 80% at an f_T of 120 GHz. Furthermore, a 225 nm gate-length HEMT biased for high gain exhibited an extrinsic f_T of 165 GHz and an extrinsic f_max of 115 GHz, at a DC power consumption of 100 mW/mm. When biased for low DC power consumption of 20 mW/mm the same HEMT exhibited an extrinsic f_T and f_max of 120 GHz and 110 GHz, respectively.     

Influence of the sidewall crystal orientation, HfSiO nitridation and TiN metal gate thickness on n-MuGFETs under analog operation

This work characterizes the analog performance of SOI n-MuGFETs with HfSiO gate dielectric and TiN metal gate with respect to the influence of the high-k post-nitridation, TiN thickness and device rotation. A thinner TiN metal gate is found favorable for improved analog characteristics showing an increase in intrinsic voltage gain. The devices where the high-k material is subjected to a nitridation step indicated a degradation of the Early voltage (V_EA) values which resulted in a lower voltage gain. The 45° rotated devices have a smaller V_EA than the standard ones when a HfSiO dielectric is used. However, the higher transconductance of these devices, due to the increased mobility in the (1 0 0) sidewall orientation, compensates this V_EA degradation of the voltage gain, keeping it nearly equal to the voltage gain values of the standard devices.