Piezotronic and Piezo-Phototronic Effects-Enhanced Core–Shell Structure-Based Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors

Abstract

Piezotronic and piezo-phototronic effects have been extensively applied to modulate the performance of advanced electronics and optoelectronics. In this study, to systematically investigate the piezotronic and piezo-phototronic effects in field-effect transistors (FETs), a core–shell structure-based Si/ZnO nanowire heterojunction FET (HJFET) model was established using the finite element method. We performed a sweep analysis of several parameters of the model. The results show that the channel current increases with the channel radial thickness and channel doping concentration, while it decreases with the channel length, gate doping concentration, and gate voltage. Under a tensile strain of 0.39‰, the saturation current change rate can reach 38%. Finally, another core–shell structure-based ZnO/Si nanowire HJFET model with the same parameters was established. The simulation results show that at a compressive strain of −0.39‰, the saturation current change rate is about 18%, which is smaller than that of the Si/ZnO case. Piezoelectric potential and photogenerated electromotive force jointly regulate the carrier distribution in the channel, change the width of the channel depletion layer and the channel conductivity, and thus regulate the channel current. The research results provide a certain degree of reference for the subsequent experimental design of Zn-based HJFETs and are applicable to other kinds of FETs.