We present a quasi-analytical model for Tunnel Field Effect Transistors (TFETs) that includes the microscopic physics and chemistry of interfaces and non-idealities. The ballistic band-to-band tunneling current is calculated by modifying the well known Simmons equation for oxide tunneling, where we integrate the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) tunneling current over the transverse modes. We extend the Simmons equation to finite temperature and non-rectangular barriers using a two-band model for the channel material and an analytical channel potential profile obtained from Poisson's equation. The two-band model is parametrized first principles by calibrating with hybrid Density Functional Theory calculations, and extended to random alloys with a band unfolding technique. Our quasi-analytical model shows quantitative agreement with ballistic quantum transport calculations. On top of the ballistic tunnel current we incorporate higher order processes arising at junctions coupling the bands, specifically interface trap-assisted tunneling and Auger generation processes. Our results suggest that both processes significantly impact the off-state characteristics of the TFETs - Auger in particular being present even for perfect interfaces. We show that our microscopic model can be used to quantify the TFET performance on the atomistic interface quality. Finally, we use our simulations to quantify circuit level metrics such as energy consumption.
Tunnel field effect transistors (TFETs) based on vertical stacking of two dimensional materials are of interest for low-power logic devices. The monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with sizable band gaps show promise in building p-n junctions (couples) for TFET applications. Band alignment information is essential for realizing broken gap junctions with excellent electron tunneling efficiencies. Promising couples composed of monolayer TMDs are suggested to be VIB-MeX2 (Me= W, Mo; X= Te, Se) as the n-type source and IVB-MeX2 (Me = Zr, Hf; X= S, Se) as the p-type drain by density f…
We present a physics-based compact model for two-dimensional (2D) field-effect transistors (FETs) based on monolayer semiconductors such as MoS2. A semi-classical transport approach is appropriate for the 2D channel, enabling simplified analytical expressions for the drain current. In addition to intrinsic FET behavior, the model includes contact resistance, traps and impurities, quantum capacitance, fringing fields, high-field velocity saturation and self-heating, the latter being found to play a strong role. The model is calibrated with state-of-the-art experimental data for n- and p-type 2D…
Tunneling field-effect transistors (FETs) have been intensely explored recently due to its potential to address power concerns in nanoelectronics. The recently discovered graphene nanoribbon (GNR) is ideal for tunneling FETs due to its symmetric bandstructure, light effective mass, and monolayer-thin body. In this work, we examine the device physics of p-i-n GNR tunneling FETs using atomistic quantum transport simulations. The important role of the edge bond relaxation in the device characteristics is identified. The device, however, has ambipolar I-V characteristics, which are not preferred f…
Reconfigurable magnetic tunnel diodes and transistors are a new concept in spintronics. The realization of such a device requires the use of materials with unique spin-dependent electronic properties such as half-metallic magnets (HMMs) and spin-gapless semiconductors (SGSs). Quaternary Heusler compounds offer a unique platform to design within the same family of compounds HMMs and SGSs with similar lattice constants to make coherent growth of the consecutive spacers of the device possible. Employing state-of-the-art first-principles calculations, we scan the quaternary Heusler compounds and i…
In this paper, two dimensional modulation of the potential in sexithiophene (T6) / N,N-bis(n-octyl)-dicyanoperylenediimide (PDI-8CN2) heterojunction field effect transistors due to the specific microstructure at the interface is used to explain the negative transconductance effect (NTC) experienced in sexithiophene (T6) / N,N-bis(n-octyl)-dicyanoperylenediimide (PDI-8CN2) heterojunction field effect transistors. The NTC effect has been experienced in tunnel devices, such as the tunnel diode, the resonant tunneling field effect transistors (RT-FETs), resonant tunneling double barrier devices. I…
Van der Waals heterostructures are the ideal material platform for tunnel field effect transistors (TFETs) because a band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) dominant current is feasible at room temperature (RT) due to ideal, dangling bond free heterointerfaces. However, achieving subthreshold swing (SS) values lower than 60 mVdec-1 of the Boltzmann limit is still challenging. In this work, we systematically studied the band alignment and heterointerface quality in n-MoS2 channel heterostructure TFETs. By selecting a p+-MoS2 source with a sufficiently high doping level, stable gate modulation to a type I…
This work reports the design and analysis of an n-type tunneling field effect transistor based on InN. The tunneling current is evaluated from the fundamental principles of quantum mechanical tunneling and semiclassical carrier transport. We investigate the RF performance of the device. High transconductance of 2 mS/um and current gain cut-off frequency of around 460 GHz makes the device suitable for THz applications. A significant reduction in gate to drain capacitance is observed under relatively higher drain bias. In this regard, the avalanche breakdown phenomenon in highly doped InN juncti…
Graphene/silicon heterostructures have attracted tremendous interest as a new platform for diverse electronic and photonic devices such as barristors, solar cells, optical modulators, and chemical sensors. The studies to date largely focus on junctions between graphene and lightly-doped silicon, where a Schottky barrier is believed to dominate the carrier transport process. Here we report a systematic investigation of carrier transport across the heterojunctions formed between graphene and highly-doped silicon. By varying the silicon doping level and the measurement temperature, we show that t…
We report a bipolar field effect tunneling transistor that exploits to advantage the low density of states in graphene and its one atomic layer thickness. Our proof-of-concept devices are graphene heterostructures with atomically thin boron nitride acting as a tunnel barrier. They exhibit room temperature switching ratios ~50, a value that can be enhanced further by optimizing the device structure. These devices have potential for high frequency operation and large scale integration.
The influence of edge vacancies on the working ability of the planar graphene tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) is studied at various concentrations and distributions (normal, uniform, periodic) of defects. All calculations are performed by using the Green's function method and the tight-binding approximation. It is shown that the transistor performance depends critically on two important factors associated with the defects: the destruction of the edge-localized electronic states and the emergence of subpeaks near the Fermi level. The supportable operation conditions of the TFET are found …
High frequency operation of tunneling real-space transfer transistor (TRSTT) in the negative differential resistance (NDR) regime is assessed by calculating the device common source unity current gain frequency (fT) range with a small signal equivalent circuit model including tunneling. Our circuit model is based on an In0.2Ga0.8As and delta-doped GaAs dual channel structure with various gate lengths. The calculated TRSTT fT agrees very well with experimental data, limiting factor being the resistance of the delta-doped GaAs layer. By optimizing the gate dimensions and channel materials, we fi…
We have investigated the spin-dependent transport properties of GaMnAs-based three-terminal semiconductor spin hot-carrier transistor (SSHCT) structures. The emitter-base bias voltage VEB dependence of the collector current IC, emitter current IE, and base current IB shows that the current transfer ratio alpha (= IC / IE) and the current gain beta (= IC / IB) are 0.8-0.95 and 1-10, respectively, which means that GaMnAs-based SSHCTs have current amplifiability. In addition, we observed an oscillatory behavior of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio with the increasing bias, which can be …
We study the nonequilibrium transport for the asymmetric and negative differential magnon tunneling driven by temperature bias. We demonstrate that the many-body magnon interaction that makes the magnonic spectrum temperature-dependent is the crucial factor for the emergence of rectification and negative differential spin Seebeck effects in magnon tunneling junctions. When magnonic junctions have temperature-dependent density of states, reversing the temperature bias is able to give asymmetric spin currents and increasing temperature bias could give an anomalously decreasing magnonic spin curr…
In 2D-semiconductor-based field-effect transistors and optoelectronic devices, metal-semiconductor junctions are one of the crucial factors determining device performance. The Fermi-level (FL) pinning effect, which commonly caused by interfacial gap states, severely limits the tunability of junction characteristics, including barrier height and contact resistance. A tunneling contact scheme has been suggested to address the FL pinning issue in metal-2D-semiconductor junctions, whereas the experimental realization is still elusive. Here, we show that an oxidized-monolayer-enabled tunneling barr…
The single particle tunneling in a vertical stack consisting of monolayers of two-dimensional semiconductors is studied theoretically and its application to a novel Two-dimensional Heterojunction Interlayer Tunneling Field Effect Transistor (Thin-TFET) is proposed and described. The tunneling current is calculated by using a formalism based on the Bardeen's transfer Hamiltonian, and including a semi-classical treatment of scattering and energy broadening effects. The misalignment between the two 2D materials is also studied and found to influence the magnitude of the tunneling current, but hav…
A vertical spin metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (spin MOSFET) is a promising low-power device for the post scaling era. Here, using a ferromagnetic-semiconductor GaMnAs-based vertical spin MOSFET with a GaAs channel layer, we demonstrate a large drain-source current IDS modulation by a gate-source voltage VGS with a modulation ratio up to 130%, which is the largest value that has ever been reported for vertical spin field-effect transistors thus far. We find that the electric field effect on indirect tunneling via defect states in the GaAs channel layer is responsible for the…
Two-dimensional (2D) materials are highly promising for tunnel field effect transistors (TFETs) with low subthreshold swing and high drive current because the shorter tunnel distance and strong gate controllability can be expected from the van der Waals gap distance and the atomically sharp heterointerface formed independently of lattice matching. However, the common problem for 2D-2D TFETs is the lack of highly doped 2D materials with the high process stability as the sources. In this study, we have found that p+-WSe2 doped by charge transfer from a WOx surface oxide layer can be stabilized b…
We report the use of plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) to fabricate single-electron transistors (SETs) featuring ultra-thin (~1 nm) tunnel-transparent SiO2 in Ni-SiO2-Ni tunnel junctions. We show that as a result of the O2 plasma steps in PEALD of SiO2, the top surface of the underlying Ni electrode is oxidized. Additionally, the bottom surface of the upper Ni layer is also oxidized where it is in contact with the deposited SiO2, most likely as a result of oxygen-containing species on the surface of the SiO2. Due to the presence of these surface parasitic layers of NiO, which exh…
Two-dimensional materials (2DMs) are a promising alternative to complement and upgrade high-frequency electronics. However, in order to boost their adoption, the availability of numerical tools and physically-based models able to support the experimental activities and to provide them with useful guidelines becomes essential. In this context, we propose a theoretical approach that combines numerical simulations and small-signal modeling to analyze 2DM-based FETs for radio-frequency applications. This multi-scale scheme takes into account non-idealities, such as interface traps, carrier velocit…
Spin transistors (whose on-off operation is achieved by electric-field-controlled spin orientation 1), if realized, can revolutionize modern electronics through the implementation of a faster and a more energy-efficient performance as well as non-volatile data storage 2, 3. The original proposal by Datta and Das 1 that relies on electric-field-controlled spin precession in a semiconductor channel faces significant challenges including inefficient spin injection, spin relaxation and spread of the spin precession angle 4, 5. Recent demonstration of electric-field switching of magnetic order 6-8 …
Online training of deep neural networks (DNN) can be significantly accelerated by performing in-situ vector matrix multiplication in a crossbar array of analog memories. However, training accuracies often suffer due to device non-idealities such as nonlinearity, asymmetry, limited bit precision and dynamic weight update range within constrained power budget. Here, we report a three-terminal Ferroelectric-Field-Effect-Transistor based on low thermal budget processes that can work efficiently as an analog synaptic transistor. Ferroelectric polymer P(VDF-TrFE) as the gate insulator and 2D semicon…
Here, we propose a Charge Plasma (CP)-based Germanium Double Gate Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor (Ge-DGTFET) device structure, where a CP is induced in the heavily doped source region using the work function engineering of source electrode. The CP enables creation of electrical metallurgical junction and converts n-p-n to p-n-p-n structure of TFET and enhances the drain current, reliability, eliminate additional pocket ion-implantation. The proposed CP-Ge-DGTFET device structure revealed excellent electrical DC performance as compared to the conventional Ge-DGTFET device structure such as high…
Interband quantum tunneling of electrons in semiconductors is of intense recent interest as the underlying transport mechanism in tunneling field-effect transistors. Such transistors can potentially perform electronic switching with lower energy than their conventional counterparts. The recent emergence of 2-dimensional semiconducting crystals provides a new material platform for realizing such devices. In this work, we derive an analytical expression for understanding tunneling current flow in 2D crystal semiconductors. We apply the results to a range of 2D crystal semiconductors, and compare…
We investigate the transmission properties of a spin transistor coupled to two quantum point contacts acting as spin injector and detector. In the Fabry-Perot regime, transport is mediated by quasibound states formed between tunnel barriers. Interestingly, the spin-orbit interaction of the Rashba type can be tuned in such a way that nonuniform Rashba fields can point along distinct directions in different points of the sample. We discuss both spin-conserving and spin-flipping transitions as the spin-orbit angle of orientation increases from parallel to antiparallel configurations. Spin precess…
The impact of electrostatic doping level on the dissipative transport of Armchair GNR-TFET is studied using the Quantum Perturbation Theory (QPT) with the Extended Lowest Order Expansion (XLOE) implementation method. Results show that the doping level of the source and drain sides of the GNR-TFET has a significant impact on the phonon contribution to the carrier transport process. Unlike in other similar studies, where phonons are believed to have a constant detrimental influence on the ION/IOFF ratio and Subthreshold Swing (SS) of the TFET devices due to the phonon absorption-assisted tunneli…
Structural and electronic properties of silicene adsorbed by five kinds of transition metal atoms (Cu, Ag, Au, Pt, and Ir) are systematically studied by using first-principles calculations. We find that such adsorption can induce a band gap at the Dirac point of doped silicene. Doped silicene can reach a band gap up to 0.23 eV while keeping a relatively small effective mass of around 0.1 me, thus having high carrier mobility estimated to be 50000 cm2/Vs. P-type doping and neutral state is realized in silicene by Ir and Pt adsorption, respectively, while n-type doping is done by Cu, Ag, and Au …
Electrically driven plasmon-polaritonic bistability in Dirac electron tunneling transistors
Columbia University(哥伦比亚大学);ETH Zürich(苏黎世联邦理工学院);National Institute for Materials Science(国立材料研究所);Air Force Research Laboratory(空军研究实验室);ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology(巴塞罗那光子科学研究所,巴塞罗那科学技术研究院);ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats(加泰罗尼亚高级研究学院)
We fabricated and characterized a new spin-functional MOSFET referred to as a pseudo-spin-MOSFET (PS-MOSFET). The PS-MOSFET is a circuit using an ordinary MOSFET and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) for reproducing functions of spin-transistors. Device integration techniques for a bottom gate MOSFET using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate and for an MTJ with a full-Heusler alloy electrode and MgO tunnel barrier were developed. The fabricated PS-MOSFET exhibited high and low transconductance controlled by the magnetization configurations of the MTJ at room temperature. This is the first obse…