A Novel Germanium-Around-Source Gate-All-Around tunnelling Field-Effect Transistor for Low-Power Applications

Area of Science:

• Semiconductor device physics
• Materials science

Background:

• Gate-all-around tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) are crucial for low-power electronics.
• Germanium and silicon heterostructures offer unique electronic properties for advanced transistors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and analyze the electrical characteristics of a novel Germanium-Around-Source Gate-All-Around TFET (GAS GAA TFET).
• To optimize the GAS GAA TFET performance using TCAD simulations.
• To evaluate the potential of GAS GAA TFETs for low-power applications.

Main Methods:

• Device fabrication and electrical characterization.
• Comparative analysis with silicon and germanium-based TFETs.
• Synopsys Sentaurus TCAD simulations for device optimization.

Main Results:

• The GAS GAA TFET leverages the differing bandgaps of germanium and silicon for enhanced band-to-band tunneling (BTBT).
• Optimized device shows a high ON-state current (11.9 μA) and a low, steady subthreshold swing (57.29 mV/decade).
• Achieved a significant reduction in OFF-state current (2.85 × 10^-9 μA), an improvement of 10⁷ times.

Conclusions:

• The GAS GAA TFET demonstrates superior performance compared to conventional TFETs.
• Work function and drain overlapping engineering are effective optimization strategies.
• The device exhibits high potential for next-generation low-power electronic applications.