A matrix addressable diode flat panel display has been fabricated using a carbon nanotube–epoxy composite as the electron emission source. Field-emission uniformity has been confirmed by measuring the I–V curves of pixels across the panel. This prototype display demonstrates well-lit pixels under ±150 V biasing signals. The “on” and “off” of the pixels are well controlled by the half voltage “off-pixel” method. Further improvement of this technology may lead to easy-to-make and inexpensive flat panel displays.

A nanotube-based field-emission flat panel display

There can be little doubt that the Monte Carlo method for semiconductor device simulation has enormous power as a research tool. It represents a detailed physical model of the semiconductor material(s), and provides a high degree of insight into the microscopic transport processes. However, if the authority ascribed to Monte Carlo models of devices at 1/spl mu/m feature size is to be maintained for devices below O.1/spl mu/m, modelling of the fundamental physics must be further improved. And if the Monte Carlo method is to be successful as a semiconductor device design tool, the device model must be made more realistic. Success in the industrial sector depends on this, but also on achieving fast run-times optimisation - where the scope and need for ingenuity is now greatest.

The Monte Carlo method for semiconductor device simulation

Using calibrated simulations, we report a detailed study of the doping-less tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) on a thin intrinsic silicon film using charge plasma concept. Without the need for any doping, the source and drain regions are formed using the charge plasma concept by choosing appropriate work functions for the source and drain metal electrodes. Our results show that the performance of the doping-less TFET is similar to that of a corresponding doped TFET. The doping-less TFET is expected to be free from problems associated with random dopant fluctuations. Furthermore, fabrication of doping-less TFET does not require a high-temperature doping/annealing processes and therefore cuts down the thermal budget, opening up possibilities for fabricating TFETs on single crystal silicon-on-glass substrates formed by wafer scale epitaxial transfer.

https://web.iitd.ac.in/~mamidala/HTMLobj-1518/dopingless_TFET_TED_Final.pdf

Doping-Less Tunnel Field Effect Transistor: Design and Investigation

Strong and sustained electron emission at low electric fields was observed in undoped, nanostructured diamond. Electron emission of 10 milliamperes per square centimeter was observed at applied fields of 3 to 5 volts per micrometer. These are the lowest fields ever reported for any field-emitting material at technologically useful current densities. The emitter consists of a layer of nanometer-size diamond particulates, which is heat-treated in a hydrogen plasma. These emission characteristics are attributed to the particles' high defect density and the low electron affinity of the diamond surface. Such emitters are technologically useful, because they can be easily and economically fabricated on large substrates.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/282/5393/1471.full.pdf

Low-field electron emission from undoped nanostructured diamond

In this paper, we propose the application of a dual material gate (DMG) in a tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) to simultaneously optimize the on-current, the off-current, and the threshold voltage and also improve the average subthreshold slope, the nature of the output characteristics, and immunity against the drain-induced barrier lowering effects. We demonstrate that, if appropriate work functions are chosen for the gate materials on the source side and the drain side, the TFET shows a significantly improved performance. We apply the technique of DMG in a strained double-gate TFET with a high-k gate dielectric to show an overall improvement in the characteristics of the device, along with achieving a good on-current and an excellent average subthreshold slope. The results show that the DMG technique can be applied to TFETs with different channel materials, channel lengths, gate-oxide materials, gate-oxide thicknesses, and power supply levels to achieve significant gains in the overall device characteristics.

Novel Attributes of a Dual Material Gate Nanoscale Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor

In this paper, we have demonstrated that overlapping the gate on the drain can suppress the ambipolar conduction, which is an inherent property of a tunnel field effect transistor (TFET). Unlike in the conventional TFET where the gate controls the tunneling barrier width at both source-channel and channel-drain interfaces for different polarity of gate voltage, overlapping the gate on the drain limits the gate to control only the tunneling barrier width at the source-channel interface irrespective of the polarity of the gate voltage. As a result, the proposed overlapping gate-on-drain TFET exhibits suppressed ambipolar conduction even when the drain doping is as high as \(1 \times 10^{19}\) cm \(^{-3}\) .

Controlling Ambipolar Current in Tunneling FETs Using Overlapping Gate-on-Drain

In this paper, we propose the application of a Dual Material Gate (DMG) in a Tunnel Field Effect Transistor (TFET) to simultaneously optimize the on-current, the off-current and the threshold voltage, and also improve the average subthreshold slope, the nature of the output characteristics and the immunity against the DIBL effects. We demonstrate that if appropriate work-functions are chosen for the gate materials on the source side and the drain side, the tunnel field effect transistor shows a significantly improved performance. We apply the technique of DMG in a Strained Double Gate Tunnel Field Effect Transistor with a high-k gate dielectric to show an overall improvement in the characteristics of the device along with achieving a good on-current and an excellent average subthreshold slope. The results show that the DMG technique can be applied to TFETs with different channel materials, channel lengths, gate-oxide materials, gate-oxide thicknesses and power supply levels to achieve significant gains in the overall device characteristics.

Investigation of the Novel Attributes of a Dual Material Gate Nanoscale Tunnel Field Effect Transistor

In this paper, we present the unique features exhibited by modified asymmetrical Double Gate (DG) silicon on insulator (SOI) MOSFET. The proposed structure is similar to that of the asymmetrical DG SOI MOSFET with the exception that the front gate consists of two materials. The resulting modified structure, Dual Material Double Gate (DMDG) SOI MOSFET, exhibits significantly reduced short channel effects when compared with the DG SOI MOSFET. Short channel effects in this structure have been studied by developing an analytical model. The model includes the calculation of the surface potential, electric field, threshold voltage and drain induced barrier lowering. A model for the drain current, transconductance, drain conductance and voltage gain is also discussed. It is seen that short channel effects in this structure are suppressed because of the perceivable step in the surface potential profile, which screens the drain potential. We further demonstrate that the proposed DMDG structure provides a simultaneous increase in the transconductance and a decrease in the drain conductance when compared with the DG structure. The results predicted by the model are compared with those obtained by two-dimensional simulation to verify the accuracy of the proposed analytical model.

A New Dual-Material Double-Gate (DMDG) Nanoscale SOI MOSFET - Two-dimensional Analytical Modeling and Simulation

A distinctive approach for forming a lateral Bipolar Charge Plasma Transistor (BCPT) is explored using 2-D simulations. Different metal work-function electrodes are used to induce n- and p-type charge plasma layers on undoped SOI to form the emitter, base and collector regions of a lateral NPN transistor. Electrical characteristics of the proposed device are simulated and compared with that of a conventionally doped lateral bipolar junction transistor with identical dimensions. Our simulation results demonstrate that the BCPT concept will help us realize a superior bipolar transistor in terms of a high current gain compared to a conventional BJT. This BCPT concept is suitable in overcoming doping issues such as dopant activation and high-thermal budgets which are serious issues in ultra thin SOI structures.

M. Jagadesh Kumar

Papers

Doping-Less Tunnel Field Effect Transistor: Design and Investigation

Controlling Ambipolar Current in Tunneling FETs Using Overlapping Gate-on-Drain

Investigation of the Novel Attributes of a Dual Material Gate Nanoscale Tunnel Field Effect Transistor

A New Dual-Material Double-Gate (DMDG) Nanoscale SOI MOSFET - Two-dimensional Analytical Modeling and Simulation

Bipolar Charge Plasma Transistor: A Novel Three Terminal Device