Experimental demonstration of inverter and NAND operation in p-TFET logic at ultra-low supply voltages down to VDD = 0.15 V

Abstract

Tunnel-FETs (TFETs) have been studied extensively as a replacement for MOSFETs in the supply voltage regime below VDD = 0.3 V [1]. Due to the TFET ability for offering inverse subthreshold slopes SS below 60 mV/dec, these devices are promising candidates for power efficient integrated circuits. Extensive research has been carried out on the characteristics of single TFET devices [2][3] and first inverter structures have been realized as demonstration of simple logic circuits [4][5][6]. In this work, we present TFET logic circuits based on gate-all-around (GAA) Si nanowire (NW) array TFETs showing small SS and high Ion of 39 μA/μm at VDD = -1 V. This comparably high performance in Si TFETs was realized by a source formation via silicidation and dopant segregation. Using these devices inverters based on p-TFET logic and for the first time TFET NAND gates are demonstrated experimentally. The logic gates operate at ultra-low supply voltages down to VDD = 0.15 V.