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Can p-channel tunnel field-effect transistors perform as good as n-channel?
- Source :
-
Applied Physics Letters . 7/28/2014, Vol. 105 Issue 4, p1-4. 4p. 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 4 Graphs. - Publication Year :
- 2014
-
Abstract
- We show that bulk semiconductor materials do not allow perfectly complementary p- and n-channel tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs), due to the presence of a heavy-hole band. When tunneling in p-TFETs is oriented towards the gate-dielectric, field-induced quantum confinement results in a highest-energy subband which is heavy-hole like. In direct-bandgap IIIV materials, the most promising TFET materials, phonon-assisted tunneling to this subband degrades the subthreshold swing and leads to at least 10 smaller on-current than the desired ballistic on-current. This is demonstrated with quantum-mechanical predictions for p-TFETs with tunneling orthogonal to the gate, made out of InP, In0.53Ga0.47As, InAs, and a modified version of In0.53Ga0.47As with an artificially increased conduction-band density-of-states. We further show that even if the phonon-assisted current would be negligible, the build-up of a heavy-hole-based inversion layer prevents efficient ballistic tunneling, especially at low supply voltages. For p-TFET, a strongly confined n-i-p or n-p-i-p configuration is therefore recommended, as well as a tensily strained line-tunneling configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00036951
- Volume :
- 105
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Applied Physics Letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 97347412
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4891348