Reduction of Subthreshold Leakage Current in Resonant Gate Transistor

The channel in a resonant gate transistor (RGT) transduces the resonator’s mechanical movement into electrical signals. The device finds its application in acoustic sensing as a mechanoelectrical transducer. The channel region plays an eminent role to efficiently convert the resonator’s vibration displacement into current flow between source and drain. In this paper, the subthreshold current for the channel is studied. The enhancement mode n-channel RGT and metaloxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) are fabricated. The channel width and length have been varied from 25 μm-540 μm and 10 μm-20 μm, respectively. The temperature to grow gate oxide and to anneal the ion-implanted source/drain have been altered from 950°C-1100°C. We have found that the subthreshold leakage current can be reduced by increasing the channel length, decreasing the channel width, decreasing the annealing and gate oxidation temperature and incorporating p-channel into the transistor device instead of n-channel. It is crucial for the subthreshold current to be small with no channel breakdown issue, so that the device can operate with high reliability and low power consumption.