Improved self-gain in deep submicrometer strained silicon–germanium pMOSFETs with HfSiOx/TiSiN gate stacks

The self-gain of surface channel compressively strained SiGe pMOSFETs with HfSiOx/TiSiN gate stacks is investigated for a range of gate lengths down to 55 nm. There is 125% and 700% enhancement in the self-gain of SiGe pMOSFETs compared with the Si control at 100 nm and 55 nm lithographic gate lengths, respectively. This improvement in the self-gain of the SiGe devices is due to 80% hole mobility enhancement compared with the Si control and improved electrostatic integrity in the SiGe devices due to less boron diffusion into the channel. At 55 nm gate length, the SiGe pMOSFETs show 50% less drain induced barrier lowering compared with the Si control devices. Electrical measurements show that the SiGe devices have larger effective channel lengths. It is shown that the enhancement in the self-gain of the SiGe devices compared with the Si control increases as the gate length is reduced thereby making SiGe pMOSFETs with HfSiOx/TiSiN gate stacks an excellent candidate for analog/mixed-signal applications.