Tunable piezoresistance and noise in gate-all-around nanowire field-effect-transistor

Abstract

The piezoresistance and noise of n-type gate-all-around nanowire field-effect-transistor (NWFET) is investigated as a function of gate bias. With narrow gate bias span of 0.6 V near threshold region, the piezoresistive coefficient of NWFET enhances up to seven times from 29 × 10 -11 Pa -1 to 207 × 10 -11 Pa -1 under compressive and tensile strain conditions. Results reveal that the low frequency noise is reduced when operated in subthreshold region. The higher piezoresistive coefficient and reduced noise improve the sensor resolution (minimum detectable strain) by sixteen times. NWFET operates at low bias with higher piezoresistance and signal-to-noise ratio and offers promising applications in strain sensors. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.