Diameter Dependence of Leakage Current in Nanowire Junctionless Field Effect Transistors

In this paper, we give a physical insight into the diameter-dependent dominant leakage mechanisms in the nanowire junctionless (NWJL) FETs. Using calibrated 3-D simulations, we show that the off-state current in the NWJLFETs with nanowire diameter less than 10 nm is governed by the drain-induced barrier lowering and the consequent source-to-channel barrier height and barrier thinning, which controls the lateral band-to-band tunneling (L-BTBT)-induced parasitic bipolar junction transistor (BJT) action. Furthermore, the quantum confinement-induced bandgap enhancement is shown to lower the probability of L-BTBT, and hence acts as the dominant mechanism in reducing the off-state current of the NWJLFETs with sub-7 nm diameter. In addition, the hole accumulation due to L-BTBT induces a shielding effect, which results in an inefficient volume depletion, leading to a large off-state current in NWJLFETs with nanowire diameters >15 nm. Furthermore, the impact of gate sidewall spacer on the L-BTBT-induced parasitic BJT in NWJLFETs has also been investigated.