Modeling and Simulation of Subthreshold Characteristics of Short-Channel Fully-Depleted Recessed-Source/Drain SOI MOSFETs

Non-conventional metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices have attracted researchers‟ attention for future ultra-large-scale-integration (ULSI) applications since the channel length of conventional MOS devices approached the physical limit. Among the non-conventional CMOS devices which are currently being pursued for the future ULSI, the fully-depleted (FD) SOI MOSFET is a serious contender as the SOI MOSFETs possess some unique features such as enhanced short-channel effects immunity, low substrate leakage current, and compatibility with the planar CMOS technology. However, due to the ultra-thin source and drain regions, FD SOI MOSFETs possess large series resistance which leads to the poor current drive capability of the device despite having excellent short-channel characteristics. To overcome this large series resistance problem, the source/drain area may be increased by extending S/D either upward or downward. Hence, elevated-source/drain (E-S/D) and recessed-source/drain (Re-S/D) are the two structures which can be used to minimize the series resistance problem. Due to the undesirable issues such as parasitic capacitance, current crowding effects, etc. with E-S/D structure, the Re-S/D structure is a better choice. The FD Re-S/D SOI MOSFET may be an attractive option for sub-45nm regime because of its low parasitic capacitances, reduced series resistance, high drive current, very high switching speed and compatibility with the planar CMOS technology. The present dissertation is to deal with the theoretical modeling and computer-based simulation of the FD SOI MOSFETs in general, and recessed source/drain (Re-S/D) ultra-thin-body (UTB) SOI MOSFETs in particular. The current drive capability of Re-S/D UTB SOI MOSFETs can be further improved by adopting the dual-metal-gate (DMG) structure in place of the conventional single-metal-gate-structure. However, it will be interesting to see how the presence of two metals as gate contact changes the subthreshold characteristics of the device. Hence, the effects of adopting DMG structure on the threshold voltage, subthreshold swing and leakage current of Re-S/D UTB SOI MOSFETs have been studied in this dissertation. Further, high-k dielectric materials are used in ultra-scaled MOS devices in order to cut down the quantum mechanical tunneling of carriers. However, a physically thick gate dielectric causes fringing field induced performance degradation. Therefore, the impact of high-k dielectric materials on subthreshold characteristics of Re-S/D SOI MOSFETs needs to be investigated. In this dissertation, various subthreshold characteristics of the device with high-k gate dielectric and metal gate electrode have been investigated in detail. Moreover, considering the variability problem of threshold voltage in ultra-scaled devices, the presence of a back-gate bias voltage may be useful for ultimate tuning of the threshold voltage and other characteristics. Hence, the impact of back-gate bias on the important subthreshold characteristics such as threshold voltage, subthreshold swing and leakage currents of Re-S/D UTB SOI MOSFETs has been thoroughly analyzed in this dissertation. The validity of the analytical models are verified by comparing model results with the numerical simulation results obtained from ATLAS™, a device simulator from SILVACO Inc

Intrinsic variability of nanoscale CMOS technology for logic and memory.

The continuous downscaling of CMOS technology, the main engine of development of the semiconductor Industry, is limited by factors that become important for nanoscale device size, which undermine proper device operation completely offset gains from scaling. One of the main problems is device variability: nominally identical devices are different at the microscopic level due to fabrication tolerance and the intrinsic granularity of matter. For this reason, structures, devices and materials for the next technology nodes will be chosen for their robustness to process variability, in agreement with the ITRS (International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors). Examining the dispersion of various physical and geometrical parameters and the effect these have on device performance becomes necessary. In this thesis, I focus on the study of the dispersion of the threshold voltage due to intrinsic variability in nanoscale CMOS technology for logic and for memory. In order to describe this, it is convenient to have an analytical model that allows, with the assistance of a small number of simulations, to calculate the standard deviation of the threshold voltage due to the various contributions

3D Device Modeling and Assessment of Triple Gate SOI FinFET for LSTP Applications

The FinFET is a very good candidate for future VLSI due to its simple architecture and better performance when compared to SOI MOSFET. SGOI (Silicon Germanium on Insulator) Recessed Source drain MOSFETs and SOI FinFETs are analyzed by a commercial 3-D device simulator. It is shown that SOI FinFET with Thin Fin widths compared to SGOI MOSFETs Body thicknesses, have better control over short channel effects (SCEs) and reduced power dissipation due to reduced gate leakage currents. By varying the spacer width and the Fin width, device performance is found to improve. The performance of triple gate FinFET has been compared with that of Ultra-Thin Body (UTB) Recessed Source drain SGOI MOSFET in terms of delay, power consumption and noise margin for a CMOS inverter and results indicate the better suitability of SOI FinFET structures for Low standby Power(LSTP) Applications. The SOI FinFET device Sensitivity to process parameters such as Gate Length, Spacer Width, Oxide thickness, Fin Width, Fin Height and Fin doping has been examined and reported

Scaling and variability in ultra thin body silicon on insulator (UTB SOI) MOSFETs

The main objective of this thesis is to perform a comprehensive simulation study of the statistical variability in well scaled fully depleted ultra thin body silicon on insulator (FD-UTB SOI) at nanometer regime. It describes the design procedure for template FDUTB SOI transistor scaling and the impacts of statistical variability and reliability the scaled template transistor. The starting point of this study is a systematic simulation analysis based on a welldesigned 32nm thin body SOI template transistor provided by the FP7 project PULLNANO. The 32nm template transistor is consistent with the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductor (ITRS) 2009 specifications. The wellestablished 3D ‘atomistic’ simulator GARAND has been employed in the designing of the scaled transistors and to carry out the statistical variability simulations. Following the foundation work in characterizing and optimizing the template 32 nm gate length transistor, the scaling proceeds down to 22 nm, 16 nm and 11 nm gate lengths using typically 0.7 scaling factor in respect of the horizontal and vertical transistor dimensions. The device design process is targeted for low power applications with a careful consideration of the impacts of the design parameters choice including buried oxide thickness (TBOX), source/drain doping abruptness (σ) and spacer length (Lspa). In order to determine the values of TBOX, σ, and Lspa, it is important to analyze simulation results, carefully assessing the impact on manufacturability and to consider the corresponding trade-off between short channel effects and on-current performance. Considering the above factors, TBOX = 10nm, σ = 2nm/dec and Lspa = 7nm have been adopted as optimum values respectively. iv The statistical variability of the transistor characteristics due to intrinsic parameter fluctuation (IPF) in well-scaled FD-UTB SOI devices is systematically studied for the first time. The impact of random dopant fluctuation (RDF), line edge roughness (LER) and metal gate granularity (MGG) on threshold voltage (Vth), on-current (Ion) and drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) are analysed. Each principal sources of variability is treated individually and in combination with other variability sources in the simulation of large ensembles of microscopically different devices. The introduction of highk/ metal gate stack has improved the electrostatic integrity and enhanced the overall device performance. However, in the case of fully depleted channel transistors, MGG has become a dominant variability factor for all critical electrical parameters at gate first technology. For instance, σVth due to MGG increased to 41.9 mV at 11nm gate length compared to 26.0 mV at 22nm gate length. Similar trend has also been observed in σIon, increasing from 0.065 up to 0.174 mA/μm when the gate length is reduced from 22 nm down to 11 nm. Both RDF and LER have significant role in the intrinsic parameter fluctuations and therefore, none of these sources should be overlooked in the simulations. Finally, the impact of different variability sources in combination with positive bias temperature instability (PBTI) degradation on Vth, Ion and DIBL of the scaled nMOSFETs is investigated. Our study indicates that BTI induced charge trapping is a crucial reliability problem for the FD-UTB SOI transistors operation. Its impact not only introduces a significant degradation of transistor performance, but also accelerates the statistical variability. For example, the effect of a late degradation stage (at trap density of 1e12/cm2) in the presence of RDF, LER and MGG results in σVth increase to 36.9 mV, 45.0 mV and 58.3 mV for 22 nm, 16 nm and 11 nm respectively from the original 29.0 mV, 37.9 mV and 50.4 mV values in the fresh transistors

Mathematical Modelling of Source/Drain Extension Regions in SOI MOSFETs

Silicon-on-insulator has been used drastically in the CMOS technology due to its excellent properties. It has drastically reduced short channel effects. Also FD SOI MOSFET due to its superior scalability property than bulk MOSFET led to its extensive use in mixed-mode circuits. However, as we scale the device below the 65-nm t node, the devices face serious short channel effects in SOI MOSFETs in addition to other challenges. It seriously degrades analog figure of merit such as transconductance and cutoff frequency etc. There have been several proposed solution to this problem like laterally asymmetric-channel or graded-channel design. But in the case of nanoscale device, it is impossible to control the concentration profile at the source and the drain region. In the last few years, there have been several modeling approach to study these effects and propose a suitable model. However, the reduction in channel length have been the main problem. In case of bulk MOSFETs, charge sharing effects is negligible from Source/Drain regions due to better control of the active part of the device by the front gate. As now the thickness of the channel region is reduced to the order of 10 nm, it is difficult to fabricate the device and study the channel region without considering the effect of source/Drain doping gradient in the channel region. In the present work we have taken into account this effect and have effectively modeled the channel region to study the device in the weak inversion region

Oxygen-insertion Technology for CMOS Performance Enhancement

Until 2003, the semiconductor industry followed Dennard scaling rules to improve complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistor performance. However, performance gains with further reductions in transistor gate length are limited by physical effects that do not scale commensurately with device dimensions: short-channel effects (SCE) due to gate-leakage-limited gate-oxide thickness scaling, channel mobility degradation due to enhanced vertical electric fields, increased parasitic resistances due to reductions in source/drain (S/D) contact area, and increased variability in transistor performance due to random dopant fluctuation (RDF) effects and gate work function variations (WFV). These emerging scaling issues, together with increased process complexity and cost, pose severe challenges to maintaining the exponential scaling of transistor dimensions. This dissertation discusses the benefits of oxygen-insertion (OI) technology, a CMOS performance booster, for overcoming these challenges. The benefit of OI technology to mitigate the increase in sheet resistance ($R_{sh}$) with decreasing junction depth ($X_J$) for ultra-shallow-junctions (USJs) relevant for deep-sub-micron planar CMOS transistors is assessed through the fabrication of $R_{sh}$ test structures, electrical characterization, and technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations. Experimental and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analyses indicate that OI technology can facilitate low-resistivity USJ formation by reducing $R_{sh}$ and $X_J$ due to retarded transient-enhanced-diffusion (TED) effects and enhanced dopant retention during post-implantation thermal annealing. It is also shown that a low-temperature-oxide (LTO) capping can increase $R_{sh}$ unfavorably due to lower dopant activation levels, which can be alleviated by OI technology. This dissertation extends the evaluation of OI technology to advanced FinFET technology, targeting 7/8-nm low power technology node. A bulk-Si FinFET design comprising a super-steep retrograde (SSR) fin channel doping profile achievable with OI technology is studied by three-dimensional (3-D) TCAD simulations. As compared with the conventional bulk-Si (control) FinFET design with a heavily-doped fin channel doping profile, SSR FinFETs can achieve higher $I_{on}/I_{off}$ ratios and reduce the sensitivity of device performance to variations due to the lightly doped fin channel. As compared with the SOI FinFET design, SSR FinFETs can achieve similarly low $V_{DD,min}$ for 6T-SRAM cell yield estimation. Both SSR and SOI design can provide for as much as 100 mV reduction in $V_{DD,min}$ compared with the control FinFET design. Overall, the SSR FinFET design that can be achieved with OI technology is demonstrated to be a cheaper alternative to the SOI FinFET technology for extending CMOS scaling beyond the 10-nm node. Finally, this dissertation investigates the benefits of OI technology for reducing the Schottky barrier height ($\Phi_{Bp}$) of a Pt/Ti/p-type Si metal-semiconductor (M/S) contact, which can be expected to help reduce the specific contact resistivity for a p-type silicon contact. Electrical measurements of back-to-back Schottky diodes, SIMS, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) show that the reduction in $\Phi_{Bp}$ is associated with enhanced Ti 2p and Si 2p core energy level shifts. OI technology is shown to favor low-$\Phi_{Bp}$ Pt monosilicide formation during forming gas anneal (FGA) by suppressing the grain boundary diffusion of Pt atoms into the crystalline Si substrate

A Rigorous Simulation Based Study of Gate Misalignment Effects in Gate Engineered Double-Gate (DG) MOSFETs

In this work, a numerical simulation based study on the effects of gate misalignment between the front and the back gate for gate engineered double-gate (DG) Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistors (MOSFETs) has been presented. A comparative study of electrical characteristics and its effects on device performance between single material double gate (SMDG), double material double gate (DMDG) and triple material double gate (TMDG) MOSFETs have been investigated qualitatively. Both source side misalignment (SSM) and drain side misalignment (DSM) of different lengths in the back gate have been considered to investigate the effects of gate misalignment on device performance. In this context, an extensive simulation has been performed by a commercially available two-dimensional (2D) device simulator (ATLASTM, SILVACO Int.) to figure out the impacts of misalignment on device characteristics like surface potential, threshold voltage, drain-induced-barrier lowering (DIBL), subthreshold swing, subthreshold current, maximum drain current, transconductance and output conductance

An Analytical Model for the Threshold Voltage of Short-Channel Double-Material-Gate (DMG) MOSFETs with a Strained-Silicon (s-Si) Channel on Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) Substrates

As the silicon CMOS technology move into the sub-20nm regime, manufacturing limits and fundamental curb the traditional scaling of transistors. Modernization in device structures and materials will be needed for continued transistor miniaturization and equivalent performance improvements. Device dimensions are approaching their scaling limit giving rise to undesirable effects like short channel effects, gate leakage current, drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) etc. Strained-silicon devices have been receiving enormous attention owing to their potential for achieving higher channel mobility and drive current enhancement and compatibility with conventional silicon processing.In this novel work, an analytical threshold voltage model is developed for a short-channel double-material-gate (DMG) strained-silicon ( ) on silicon-germanium ( ) MOSFET structure. The proposed threshold voltage model is based on the so called virtual-cathode potential formulation. The virtual-cathode potential is taken as minimum channel potential along the transverse direction of the channel and is derived from two-dimensional (2D) potential distribution of channel region. The 2D channel potential is formulated by solving the 2D Poisson’s equation with suitable boundary conditions in both the strained-Si layer and relaxed layer. The effects of a number of device parameters like the Ge mole fraction, Si film thickness and gate-length ratio have been considered on threshold voltage. Further, the drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) has also been analyzed for gate-length ratio and amount of strain variations and also, the sub threshold swing is also analyzed for the device with different parameter variation. The model is used to investigate the excellent immunity against SCE offered by the DMG structure. The validity of the present 2D analytical model is verified with ATLASTM, a 2D device simulator from Silvaco Inc

Design of Nanoscale MOSFETs and Characterization of their Performance by Device Simulations

東洋大学201

Simulation of FinFET Structures

The intensive downscaling of MOS transistors has been the major driving force behind the aggressive increases in transistor density and performance, leading to more chip functionality at higher speeds. While on the other side the reduction in MOSFET dimensions leads to the close proximity between source and drain, which in turn reduces the ability of the gate electrode to control the potential distribution and current flow in the channel region and also results in some undesirable effects called the short-channel effects. These limitations associated with downscaling of MOSFET device geometries have lead device designers and researchers to number of innovative techniques which include the use of different device structures, different channel materials, different gate-oxide materials, different processes such as shallow trench isolation, source/drain silicidation, lightly doped extensions etc. to enable controlled device scaling to smaller dimensions. A lot of research and development works have been done in these and related fields and more remains to be carried out in order to exploit these devices for the wider applications