A novel germanium-around-source gate-all-around tunnelling field-effect transistor for low-power applications

Abstract

This paper presents a germanium-around-source gate-all-around tunnelling field-effect transistor (GAS GAA TFET). The electrical characteristics of the device were studied and compared with those of silicon gate-all-around and germanium-based-source gate-all-around tunnel field-effect transistors. Furthermore, the electrical characteristics were optimised using Synopsys Sentaurus technology computer-aided design (TCAD). The GAS GAA TFET contains a combination of around-source germanium and silicon, which have different bandgaps. With an increase in the gate-source voltage, band-to-band tunnelling (BTBT) in silicon rapidly approached saturation since germanium has a higher BTBT probability than silicon. At this moment, germanium could still supply current increment, resulting in a steady and steep average subthreshold swing (SSAVG) and a higher ON-state current. The GAS GAA TFET was optimised through work function and drain overlapping engineering. The optimised GAS GAA TFET exhibited a high ON-state current (ION) (11.9 μA), a low OFF-state current (IOFF) (2.85 x 10-9 μA), and a low and steady SSAVG (57.29 mV/decade), with the OFF-state current increasing by 107 times. The GAS GAA TFET has high potential for use in low-power applications.