Transmission Engineering as a route to Subthermal Switching

TL;DR

This paper explores how transmission engineering can enable subthermal switching in low subthreshold devices by modifying their transmission properties, potentially surpassing traditional limits.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for designing subthermal switches through transmission property modifications, extending the understanding of device physics beyond conventional models.

Findings

Transmission engineering can reduce subthreshold swing below Boltzmann limit.

Modifying bandwidth, bandgap, or amplitude affects device switching performance.

Analytical derivation of subthreshold swing using Landauer theory.

Abstract

The physics of low subthreshold devices is interpreted in terms of a gate dependent change in their mode averaged transmission function, in addition to a capacitive shift in their overall mode spectrum. Accordingly, we explore a variety of subthermal switches that alter the bandwidth, bandgap or amplitude of the transmission, and combinations thereof. The Landauer theory for current flow provides a convenient way to derive the subthreshold swing in each case analytically and suggests ways to beat the Boltzmann limit.