Three-Independent-Gate Transistors: Opportunities in digital, analog and RF applications

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive review of Three-Independent-Gate Field-Effect Transistors (TIGFETs). In parallel to the focus on transistor scaling, an alternative approach to push further the performance of computing systems consists in increasing the functionalities of the basic transistors by means of additional gate controls. TIGFETs belong to this category of devices and can achieve different modes of operation according to the bias of the gate terminals. In particular, these devices are capable of (i) device-level polarity control, (ii) dynamic threshold modulation and (iii) subthreshold slope tuning down to ultra-steep-slope operation. The functionality increase at the device level leads to several design opportunities for digital, analog and RF applications.