Physical properties and analytical models of band-to-band tunneling in low-bandgap semiconductors

Abstract

Low-bandgap semiconductors, such as InAs and InSb, are widely considered to be ideal for use in tunnel field-effect transistors to ensure sufficient on-current boosting at low voltages. This work elucidates the physical and mathematical considerations of applying conventional band-to-band tunneling models in low-bandgap semiconductors, and presents a new analytical alternative for practical use. The high-bandgap tunneling generates most at maximum field region with shortest tunnel path, whereas the low-bandgap generations occur dispersedly because of narrow tunnel barrier. The local electrical field associated with tunneling-electron numbers dominates in low-bandgap materials. This work proposes decoupled electric-field terms in the pre-exponential factor and exponential function of generation-rate expressions. Without fitting, the analytical results and approximated forms exhibit great agreements with the sophisticated forms both in high- and low-bandgap semiconductors. Neither nonlocal nor local field is appropriate to be used in numerical simulations for predicting the tunneling generations in a variety of low- and high-bandgap semiconductors.