Theoretical model of a new type tunneling transistor

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical model of a new tunneling transistor that controls electron tunneling current via gate voltage without heterojunctions, showing potential for high current modulation at various temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel tunneling transistor design that modulates current through electrostatic potential changes affecting wave vector damping, differing from existing TFETs.

Findings

Gate voltage can change tunneling current by 10 orders of magnitude.

The device's performance is stable up to 300 K in wide bandgap structures.

Temperature has minimal effect on current modulation in certain structures.

Abstract

A tunneling transistor without heterojunction as a theoretical design, or more precisely controlled electron current transmission by barrier potential, is under consideration. The electrons from the conduction band of the source tunnel through the forbidden gap $E_g$ of the channel to the conduction band of the drain. The tunneling current $J$ calculations made at helium temperature for the example InAs-InAs-InAs, Au-GaSe-Au and Al-AlN-Al structures show that for a constant source-drain voltage, $V_C$, of several mV, changes in the gate voltage, $V_G$, applied to the channel within the voltage range of 0 - $E_g/$2e change $J$ by even 10 orders of magnitude. Unlike the existing solutions such as tunnel field-effect-transistor (TFET), the proposed device uses the change of $V_G$ (gate voltage), i.e. the change of the electrostatic potential in the channel, to modify the imaginary wave vector $k_z$ of tunnel current electrons. Consequently, the gate voltage controls the damping force of the electrons wave functions and thus the magnitude of the tunneling current, $J$. The effect of increasing temperature, T, on $J(V_G)$ relation was also tested. It was found that only in structures with a wide forbidden channel gap this effect is insignificant (at least up to T=300 K).