Design and Test of Nanoscale Non-Aligned Double Gate FET Inverter and Ring Oscillator for Low-Power Application in TCAD Simulation Environment

This work investigates the working of an inverter and a ring oscillator using symmetrical junction nonaligned double gate field effect transistors (NADGFETs). The performance of the circuits was investigated with two dielectric (k) materials, i.e., silicon dioxide (low-[Formula: see text]) and hafnium dioxide (high-[Formula: see text]), into the device’s gate oxide. Simulations were performed in the TCAD Sentaurus Sdevice mixed-mode environment, and the circuit’s response is analyzed as a function of supply voltage, load capacitance and temperature. Additionally, this work evaluates the effect of changes in device parameters on the performance of inverter and oscillator configuration. Using the graphical method, the optimal supply voltage of the inverter was determined, with a 0.66[Formula: see text]V optimal supply, the propagation delay of the inverter with low-k and high-k materials was 6.1[Formula: see text]ps and 7.5[Formula: see text]ps, respectively. The inverters’ power delay product with low-k materials is 45.38 aJ and with high-k materials, it is 70.37 aJ. For a better insight into the nonaligned double gate devices’ performance, a 5-stage ring oscillator was simulated. The oscillator circuit gives an output voltage/oscillation frequency of 1.18 V/67 GHz and 1.205[Formula: see text]V/44 GHz, with low-k and high-k materials, respectively, at 1.0[Formula: see text]V supply. The oscillator with low-k gate oxide shows a 34.3% increase in oscillation frequency. From the results, it can be concluded that the nonaligned devices with low-k gate oxide will give an improved response in low-power and high-frequency applications.