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Energy filtering in silicon nanowires and nanosheets using a geometric superlattice and its use for steep-slope transistors
- Source :
- Journal of applied physics
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- AIP Publishing, 2018.
-
Abstract
- This paper investigates energy filtering in silicon nanowires and nanosheets by resonant electron tunneling through a geometric superlattice. A geometric superlattice is any kind of periodic geometric feature along the transport direction of the nanowire or nanosheet. Multivalley quantum-transport simulations are used to demonstrate the manifestation of minibands and minibandgaps in the transmission spectra of such a superlattice. We find that the presence of different valleys in the conduction band of silicon favors a nanowire with a rectangular cross section for effective energy filtering. The obtained energy filter can consequently be used in the source extension of a field-effect transistor to prevent high-energy electrons from contributing to the leakage current. Self-consistent Schrodinger-Poisson simulations in the ballistic limit show minimum subthreshold swings of 6 mV/decade for geometric superlattices with indentations. The obtained theoretical performance metrics for the simulated devices are compared with conventional III-V superlatticeFETs and TunnelFETs. The adaptation of the quantum transmitting boundary method to the finite-element simulation of 3-D structures with anisotropic effective mass is presented in Appendixes A and B. Our results bare relevance in the search for steep-slope transistor alternatives which are compatible with the silicon industry and can overcome the power-consumption bottleneck inherent to standard CMOS technologies.This paper investigates energy filtering in silicon nanowires and nanosheets by resonant electron tunneling through a geometric superlattice. A geometric superlattice is any kind of periodic geometric feature along the transport direction of the nanowire or nanosheet. Multivalley quantum-transport simulations are used to demonstrate the manifestation of minibands and minibandgaps in the transmission spectra of such a superlattice. We find that the presence of different valleys in the conduction band of silicon favors a nanowire with a rectangular cross section for effective energy filtering. The obtained energy filter can consequently be used in the source extension of a field-effect transistor to prevent high-energy electrons from contributing to the leakage current. Self-consistent Schrodinger-Poisson simulations in the ballistic limit show minimum subthreshold swings of 6 mV/decade for geometric superlattices with indentations. The obtained theoretical performance metrics for the simulated devices are ...
- Subjects :
- Materials science
Silicon
Superlattice
Nanowire
General Physics and Astronomy
chemistry.chemical_element
02 engineering and technology
01 natural sciences
law.invention
quantum
Effective mass (solid-state physics)
law
0103 physical sciences
Quantum tunnelling
010302 applied physics
business.industry
Subthreshold conduction
Physics
field-effect transistors
Transistor
Condensed Matter::Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall Effect
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
chemistry
transport
Optoelectronics
Field-effect transistor
0210 nano-technology
business
devices
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10897550 and 00218979
- Volume :
- 124
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....69c642c92604225a9e06eaed661c1310