Performance Assessment of Nanoscale Field-Effect Diodes

Abstract

We propose a new structure called a side-contacted field-effect diode (FED). The fabrication of this new structure is simple, and it offers good electrical characteristics. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis of FEDs is presented. The effect of heavy-doping-induced band-gap narrowing on the performance of FEDs is investigated. Our results show that the calculated <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">I</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</sub> / <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">I</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">off</sub> ratio is at least two orders of magnitude larger than that obtained from models neglecting this effect. The figures of merit including intrinsic gate delay time, the energy-delay product, and the subthreshold slope have been studied. Our numerical investigations of the scaling of FEDs indicate that, in the nanometer regime, FEDs have a higher <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">I</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">on</sub> / <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">I</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">off</sub> ratio. The results demonstrate that FEDs are interesting candidates for future logic applications.