Linearity/intermodulation distortion analysis of tunneling and thermionic emission mechanisms; design proposal and high frequency investigation

Abstract

Abstract The article provides an opportunity to study the linearity/intermodulation distortion, radiofrequency, and internal physical behavior of a device when the thermionic emission and tunneling transport are brought together. Thermionic emission is arranged vertically in the channel by an additional electron source (AES) along with the conventional horizontal tunneling in an electrically doped tunnel field-effect transistor (C-ED-TFET). The combined mechanism (tunneling and thermionic emission) offers a drastic improvement in the linearity parameters of the C-ED-TFET. In addition, the combined mechanism of carrier transport offers not only better linearity but also drastically improved DC and radiofrequency characteristics compared with the individual phenomena. It is obvious that thermionic emission carrier transport leads to higher leakage current compared to pure tunneling; hence, the presence of an AES causes a rise in the leakage current. Therefore, in the final state of the art work-function engineering is applied at the control gate that offers a reduction in the leakage current (1× 10−18 A µm–1) due to the formation of a potential well in the channel region in the OFF state. Moreover, the final proposal also possesses a short drain electrode, which is beneficial for suppressing the negative conductance (inherent issue) of the TFET.