On the Possibility of an Electronic-structure Modulation Transistor

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new electronic-structure modulation transistor (EMT) that modulates a localized state's bandwidth via gate voltage, aiming for post-CMOS logic with potential for self gain and low power operation.

Contribution

It proposes a novel EMT device concept based on bandwidth modulation of localized states, analyzed through quantum transport simulations to evaluate its switching and gain capabilities.

Findings

EMT can potentially achieve self gain.

The device may overcome the thermal limit of 2.3kT/decade.

Low OFF current is feasible with proper band alignment.

Abstract

We present a novel electronic-structure modulation transistor (EMT), which can possibly be used for post-CMOS logic applications. The device principle is based on the bandwidth modulation of a midgap or near-midgap localized state in the channel by a gate voltage. A single-band tight-binding method coupled with non-equilibrium Green's function formalism for quantum transport is employed to predict the IV characteristics. Our objective is to confirm if an EMT has a self gain and if it can overcome the 2.3kT/decade thermal limit with low supply voltage. The ON current depends on the bandwidth of the state and is limited by the quantum of conductance for a single band. The OFF current is set by the gate leakage and tunneling through the higher bands, which is expected to be small if these bands are a few eV above the energy level of the localized state.