High drain field impact ionization transistors as ideal switches
Impact ionization effect has been demonstrated in transistors to enable sub-60 mV dec<sup>-1</sup> subthreshold swing. However, traditionally, impact ionization in silicon devices requires a high operation voltage due to limited electrical field near the device drain, contradicting the low energy operation purpose. Here, we report a vertical subthreshold swing device composed of a graphene/silicon heterojunction drain and a silicon channel. This structure creates a low voltage avalanche impact ionization phenomenon and leads to steep switching of the silicon-based device. Experimental measurements reveal a small average subthreshold swing of 16 µV dec<sup>-1</sup> over 6 decades of drain current and nearly hysteresis-free, and the operating voltage at which a vertical subthreshold swing occurs can be as low as 0.4 V at room temperature. Furthermore, a complementary silicon-based logic inverter is experimentally demonstrated to reach a voltage gain of 311 at a supply voltage of 2 V.
Authors
- Chunxiao Cong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9786-825X)
- Ye Lü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9054-2644)
- Qiang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5842-3223)
- Zhaozhao Hou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6369-7018)
- Weizhuo Gan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4041-9220)
- Zhenhua Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4552-883X)
- Peng Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7301-1013)
- Zengxing Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2667-7143)
- Jeffrey Xu
- Baowei Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8552-4131)
- Zengguang Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2204-3429)
- Guangxi Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2745-5219)
- Yingxin Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9372-8479)
- Wenzhong Bao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3871-467X)
- Jiale Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1062-8382)
- Kun Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5826-1612)
- Yuanbo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4745-8038)
- Zhibo Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7828-845X)
- Jing Wan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6339-4006)
- Chengjie Tang
- Mingyan Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7381-0149)
- Shunli Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4095-5296)
- Shisheng Xiong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7376-2132)
- Jiacheng Gao
- Weiao Chen
- Chunsong Zhao
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Huawei Technologies (China) (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Institute of Microelectronics (CN)
- Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics (China) (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-10-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53337-8
- Citations
- 16
- Primary Topic
- Advancements in Semiconductor Devices and Circuit Design
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.34
Funders
- Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Shanghai Municipal Education Commission
- Ministry of Education, India
- National Key Research and Development Program of China