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Band-to-band tunneling parameters of strained indirect bandgap materials are not well-known, hampering the reliability of performance predictions of tunneling devices based on these materials. The nonlocal band-to-band tunneling model for compressively strained SiGe is calibrated based on a comparison of strained SiGe p-i-n tunneling diode measurements and doping-profile-based diode simulations. Dopant and Ge profiles of the diodes are determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry and capacitance-voltage measurements. Theoretical parameters of the band-to-band tunneling model are calculated based on strain-dependent properties such as bandgap, phonon energy, deformation-potential-based electron-phonon coupling, and hole effective masses of strained SiGe. The latter is determined with a 6-band k.p model. The calibration indicates an underestimation of the theoretical electron-phonon coupling with nearly an order of magnitude. Prospects of compressively strained SiGe tunneling transistors are made by simulations with the calibrated model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group IV based tunnel field-effect transistors generally show lower on-current than III-V based devices because of the weaker phonon-assisted tunneling transitions in the group IV indirect bandgap materials. Direct tunneling in Ge, however, can be enhanced by strain engineering. In this work, we use a 30-band k · p method to calculate the band structure of biaxial tensile strained Ge and then extract the bandgaps and effective masses at Γ and L symmetry points in k-space, from which the parameters for the direct and indirect band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) models are determined. While transitions from the heavy and light hole valence bands to the conduction band edge at the L point are always bridged by phonon scattering, we highlight a new finding that only the light-hole-like valence band is strongly coupling to the conduction band at the Γ point even in the presence of strain based on the 30-band k · p analysis. By utilizing a Technology Computer Aided Design simulator equipped with the calculated band-to-band tunneling BTBT models, the electrical characteristics of tensile strained Ge point and line tunneling devices are self-consistently computed considering multiple dynamic nonlocal tunnel paths. The influence of field-induced quantum confinement on the tunneling onset is included. Our simulation predicts that an on-current up to 160 (260) µA/µm can be achieved along with on/off ratio > 106 for VDD = 0.5 V by the n-type (p-type) line tunneling device made of 2.5% biaxial tensile strained Ge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A device design technique using tunneling barriers (TBs) for reducing the short-channel effects (SCEs) is proposed. By introducing TBs at the source and drain junctions of a Si FET, the threshold voltage (Vth) roll-off can be significantly suppressed. This is because the TBs weaken the electrical coupling between drain bias and transmission/current spectrum in energy. Specifically, as compared with a conventional FET, the Vth roll-off for channel length reduction from 20 to 5 nm is mitigated by more than 40% when a thin TB is embedded at the source junction. This paper further reveals that the TB at the source junction dominates the physical mechanism minimizing the SCEs of the TBFET, and thus the device performance can be improved appreciably by removing the TB at the drain side and by decreasing the TB height at the source side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a comprehensive study of the reliability mechanisms of high-performance low-temperature polycrystalline-Si thin-film transistor (LTPS-TFT) with HfO2 gate dielectric is reported for the first time. Various bias- and temperature-stress conditions, which correspond to positive-bias stress (PBS), positive-bias temperature instability (PBTI), negative-bias stress (NBS), negative-bias temperature instability (NBTI), and hot-carrier stress, are used to differentiate the distribution and mechanism of trap density states. The generation of deep-trap states of the effective interfacial layer (IL), tail-trap states of poly-Si grain boundaries, and electron trapping of the HfO2 gate dielectric is observed for the PBS and PBTI of the HfO2 LTPS-TFT. In addition, both the deep- and tail-trap states of the effective IL are generated under NBS and NBTI of the HfO2 LTPS-TFT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, 65-nm node silicon-on-insulator devices with high-κ offset spacer dielectric were investigated by extensive 2-D device simulation. The result shows that the high-κ offset spacer dielectric can effectively increase the ON-state driving current ION and reduce the OFF leakage current IOFF due to the high vertical fringing electric field effect. This fringing field can significantly improve the ION/IOFF current ratio and the subthreshold swing compared with the conventional oxide spacer. Consequently, the gate-to-channel control ability is enhanced by the fringing field via the high-κ offset spacer dielectric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, high-performance low-temperature poly-Si p-channel thin-film transistor with metal-induced lateral- crystallization (MILC) channel layer and TaN/HfO2 gate stack is demonstrated for the first time. The devices of low thresh- old voltage VTH ~ 0.095 V, excellent subthreshold swing S.S. ~83 mV/dec., and high field-effect mobility μ5FE ~ 240 cm2 /V · s are achieved without any defect passivation methods. These significant improvements are due to the MILC channel film and the very high gate-capacitance density provided by HfO2 gate dielectric with the effective oxide thickness of 5.12 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, fluorine ion implantation with low-temperature solid-phase crystallized activation scheme is used to obtain a high-performance HfO2 low-temperature poly-Si thin-film transistor (LTPS-TFT) for the first time. The secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) analysis shows a different fluorine profile compared to that annealed at high temperature. About one order current reduction of Imin is achieved because 25% grain-boundary traps are passivated by fluorine implantation. In addition, the threshold voltage instability of hot carrier stress is also improved with the introduction of fluorine. The LTPS-TFT with HfO2 gate dielectric and fluorine preimplantation can simultaneously achieve low VTH ∼ 1.32 V, excellent subthreshold swing ∼0.141 V/dec, and high ION/Imin current ratio ∼1.98 x 107. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, the characteristics of positive bias temperature instability (PBTI) and hot carrier stress (HCS) for the low-temperature poly-Si thin-film transistors (LTPS-TFTs) with HfO2 gate dielectric are well investigated for the first time. Under room temperature stress condition, the PBTI shows a more serious degradation than does HCS, indicating that the gate bias stress would dominate the hot carrier degradation behavior for HfO2 LTPS- TFT. In addition, an abnormal behavior of the Imin degradation with different drain bias stress under high-temperature stress condition is also observed and identified in this letter. The degradation of device's performance under high-temperature stress condition can be attributed to the damages of both the HfO2 gate dielectric and the poly-Si grain boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, polarization-dependent time-dependent dielectric breakdown in ferroelectric HZO Ge MOSCAPs is presented. First, ferroelectric HZO Ge MOSCAPs with and without in-situ NH3 plasma interfacial layer treatment exhibit the two distinct remnant polarization (Pr). Secondly, the device with a larger Pr shows a higher gate leakage current and smaller time-to-breakdown (tBD) compared to the device with a smaller Pr. Then, a physical model based on the high probability of the electron tunneling accelerating the formation of the percolation path is proposed. Finally, the device with large Pr shows a lower extrapolated operating voltage. However, more than 1.5 V of the extracted operation voltage for 1% failure of 10 year lifetime in the device with large Pr still can be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of CoTiO3 high-k dielectric prepared by sol-gel spin coating method had been demonstrated. High electrical permittivity (k∼40.2) of CoTiO3 dielectric was extracted via the transmission electron microscopy image and capacitance-voltage curves. In addition, the valence band offset between thermal SiO2 and spin-on CoTiO3 was about 4.0 eV, which was detected by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The band gaps of thermal SiO2 and spin-on CoTiO3 were 9.0 and 2.2 eV, respectively. Energy band alignment of spin-on CoTiO3 directly with SiO2 and indirectly with Si was determined in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]