Beyond CMOS: Logic Suitability of InGaAs HEMTs

For over 30 years, Si CMOS scaling has brought along exponential improvements in chip density, speed and power consumption. With CMOS rapidly approaching fundamental limits, the "microelectronics revolution" is threatened. A way to reinvigorate logic technology is to introduce new channel materials with improved transport properties. In this, III-V compound semiconductors and, in particular, InGaAs with high InAs compositions are very promising. This paper reviews the merits and challenges of III-V's for logic applications. It also summarizes recent work of the authors in investigating the logic suitability of InGaAs HEMTs.