Gateless and Capacitorless Germanium Biristor with a Vertical Pillar Structure

For the first time, a novel germanium (Ge) bi-stable resistor (biristor) with a vertical pillar structure was implemented on a bulk substrate. The basic structure of the Ge pillar-typed biristor is a p-n-p bipolar junction transistor (BJT) with an open base (floating), which is equivalent to a gateless p-channel metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). In the pillar formation, we adopted an amorphous carbon layer to protect the Ge surface from both physical and chemical damage by subsequent processes. A hysteric current-voltage (I-V) characteristic, which results in a sustainable binary state, i.e., high current and low current at the same voltage, can be utilized for a memory device. A lower operating voltage with high current was achieved, compared to a Si biristor, due to the low energy bandgap of pure Ge.