Influence of channel material properties on performance of nanowire transistors

The performance of germanium and silicon inversion-mode and junctionless nanowire field-effect transistors are investigated using three-dimensional quantum mechanical simulations in the ballistic transport regime and within the framework of effective-mass theory for different channel materials and orientations. Our study shows that junctionless nanowire transistors made using n-type Ge or Si nanowires as a channel material are more immune to short-channel effects than conventional inversion-mode nanowire field-effect transistors. As a result, these transistors present smaller subthreshold swing, less drain-induced barrier-lowering, lower source-to-drain tunneling, and higher I_on/I_off ratio for the same technology node and low standby power technologies. We also show that the short-channel characteristics of Ge and Si junctionless nanowire transistors, unlike the inversion-mode nanowire transistors, are very similar. The results are explained through a detailed analysis on the effect of the channel crystallographic orientation, effective masses, and dielectric constant on electrical characteristics.