2010 Research Summary
Tunneling Field Effect Transistors
View Current Project Information
Peter Matheu1, Reinaldo Vega, Alex Guo Li, Chenming Hu and Tsu-Jae King Liu
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
CMOS power supply voltage scaling has slowed in recent years due to the non-scalability of the MOSFET threshold voltage. Transistor designs which utilize band-to-band tunneling as the carrier injection mechanism should in theory allow for reduced threshold voltage (hence lower supply voltage) for the same off-state leakage current as a MOSFET. The overall goal of this research is to investigate methods for achieving tunnel transistors (TFETs) with steeper switching characteristics than can be achieved by a MOSFET, for low-voltage electronics applications. Semiconductor device simulations calibrated to experimental results are used to guide device design optimization.
1Applied Science & Technology Graduate Group