Band-to-band tunneling in MOS-capacitors for rapid tunnel-FET characterization

Abstract

Band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) in bulk group IV and III-V semiconductors is well known [1-2], but BTBT to confined layers is more difficult to calibrate experimentally. The latter occurs in most tunnel-FETs (TFET) and in particular in the promising line-TFETs [3,4]. It is predicted that field-induced quantum confinement (FIQC) and changing density of states near the semiconductor/oxide interface negatively impact the BTBT generation rate [5]. In order to gain insight while avoiding complicated TFET fabrication and analysis, we propose and demonstrate the BTBT MOS-capacitor (MOS-CAP) to characterize the onset and rate of BTBT perpendicular to the gate.