Heterojunction Vertical Band-to-Band Tunneling Transistors for Steep Subthreshold Swing and High ON Current

TL;DR

This paper introduces a heterojunction vertical band-to-band tunneling transistor that achieves steep subthreshold swings and high ON currents, enhancing the scalability and performance of Tunnel FETs through quantum transport simulations.

Contribution

It proposes a novel heterojunction vertical tunneling FET design and demonstrates its advantages via self-consistent ballistic quantum transport simulations.

Findings

Achieves steep subthreshold swing and high ON current

Enhances scalability of Tunnel FETs for high performance

Tunable heterojunction band offsets improve device characteristics

Abstract

We propose a Heterojunction Vertical Tunneling FET and show using self-consistent ballistic quantum transport simulations that it can provide very steep subthreshold swings and high ON current, thereby improving the scalability of Tunnel FETs for high performance. The turn-on in pocket region of the device is dictated by modulation of heterojunction barrier height. The steepness of turn-on is increased because of simultaneous onset of tunneling in the pocket and the region underneath and also due to contribution to current by vertical tunneling in the pocket. These factors can be engineered by tuning heterojunction band offsets.