Mixed As/Sb and tensile strained Ge/InGaAs heterostructures for low-power tunnel field effect transistors

Reducing supply voltage is a promising way to address the power dissipation in nano-electronic circuits. However, the fundamental lower limit of subthreshold slope (SS) within metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) is a major obstacle to further scaling the operation voltage without degrading ON/OFF-ratio in today's integrated circuits. Tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) benefit from steep switching characteristics due to the quantum-mechanical tunneling injection of carriers from source to channel, rather than by conventional thermionic emission in MOSFETs. TFETs based on group III-V compound semiconductor and Ge heterostructures further improve the ON-state current and reduce SS due to the low bandgap energies and smaller carrier tunneling mass. The mixed arsenide/antimonide (As/Sb) InxGa1-xAs/GaAsySb1-y and Ge/InxGa1-xAs heterostructures allow a wide range of bandgap energies and various band alignments depending on the alloy compositions in the source and channel materials. Band alignments at source/channel heterointerface can be well modulated by carefully controlling the compositions of the InxGa1-xAs or GaAsySb1-y. In particular, this research systematically investigate the development and optimization of low-power TFETs using mixed As/Sb and Ge/InxGa1-xAs based heterostructures including: basic working principles, design considerations, material growth, interface engineering, material characterization, band alignment determination, device fabrication, device performance investigation, and high-temperature reliability. A comprehensive study of TFETs using mixed As/Sb and Ge/InxGa1-xAs based heterostructures shows superior structural properties and distinguished device performances, both of which indicate the mixed As/Sb and Ge/InxGa1-xAs based TFET as a promising option for high performance, low standby power and energy efficient logic circuit application.