Designing power efficient transistors using narrow bandwidth materials from the MA2Z4 monolayer series

TL;DR

This paper introduces narrow bandwidth monolayer materials, specifically MA2Z4 compounds, to reduce subthreshold leakage in ultra-low-power transistors by filtering high-energy carriers, enabling high ON/OFF ratios at low voltages.

Contribution

It demonstrates the use of narrow bandwidth MA2Z4 monolayers in transistor design to significantly lower leakage current and operate efficiently at ultra-low voltages, a novel approach in the field.

Findings

Achieved high ON/OFF ratios at 0.1 V supply voltage

Demonstrated effectiveness with 5 nm gate length transistors

Identified multiple materials with similar electronic properties

Abstract

The subthreshold leakage current in transistors has become a critical limiting factor for realizing ultra-low-power transistors. The leakage current is predominantly dictated by the long thermal tail of the charge carriers. We propose a solution to this problem by using narrow bandwidth semiconductors for limiting the thermionic leakage current by filtering out the high energy carriers. We specifically demonstrate this solution in transistors with laterally confined monolayer MoSi2N4 with different passivation serving as channel material. Remarkably, we find that the proposed narrow bandwidth devices can achieve a large ON/OFF current ratio with an ultra-low-power supply voltage of 0.1 V, even for devices with a 5 nm gate length. We also show that several other materials share the unique electronic properties of narrow bandwidth conduction and valance bands in the same series.