In Situ Doped Source/Drain for Performance Enhancement of Double-Gated Poly-Si Nanowire Transistors

Abstract

A poly-Si nanowire (NW) thin-film transistor configured with the double-gated scheme was fabricated and characterized. The fabrication process features the clever use of selective plasma etching to form a rectangular NW underneath a hard mask. In this paper, we show that replacing the original ion-implanted poly-Si with in situ doped poly-Si for the source/drain significantly enhances the device performance, including steeper subthreshold swing (SS), larger on/off current ratio, and reduced series resistance. In particular, the SS is improved to a record-breaking low value of 73 mV/dec, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the most ideal ever reported for a poly-Si based device. The new NW transistors with such excellent switching properties are highly promising for reducing power consumption and operational voltage in practical circuit applications.