III–V tri-gate quantum well MOSFET: Quantum ballistic simulation study for 10 nm technology and beyond

• We have simulated III–V tri-gate quantum well MOSFET using NEGF formalism.
• We report effect of device dimension, oxide thickness on device characteristics.
• Increasing channel cross-section degrades short channel and subthreshold performance.
• Critical thickness for top gate oxide has been found to be approximately 8 nm.
• Ballistic injection velocity scales with device dimension.

In this work, quantum ballistic simulation study of a III–V tri-gate MOSFET has been presented. At the same time, effects of device parameter variation on ballistic, subthreshold and short channel performance is observed and presented. The ballistic simulation result has also been used to observe the electrostatic performance and Capacitance–Voltage characteristics of the device. With constant urge to keep in pace with Moore’s law as well as aggressive scaling and device operation reaching near ballistic limit, a full quantum transport study at 10 nm gate length is necessary. Our simulation reveals an increase in device drain current with increasing channel cross-section. However short channel performance and subthreshold performance get degraded with channel cross-section increment. Increasing device cross-section lowers threshold voltage of the device. The effect of gate oxide thickness on ballistic device performance is also observed. Increase in top gate oxide thickness affects device performance only upto a certain value. The thickness of the top gate oxide however shows no apparent effect on device threshold voltage. The ballistic simulation study has been further used to extract ballistic injection velocity of the carrier and ballistic carrier mobility in the channel. The effect of device dimension and gate oxide thickness on ballistic velocity and effective carrier mobility is also presented.