Scaling effects on gate leakage current

Abstract

Scaling effects on direct tunneling gate leakage current are analyzed by utilizing new models implemented to perform self-consistent calculation between the direct tunneling, the band-gap narrowing (BGN) and the incomplete impurity ionization. This calculation is indispensable for reproducing the measured gate current-gate voltage characteristics in the device simulation. As a result, it is concluded that the scaling of the gate width cannot suppress the gate leak, even if the specification of the threshold voltage is relaxed in order to shrink the gate width. It is also found that the scaling of the gate length cannot suppress the gate leak unless the vertical field is strong.