Balita
Imec makes progress on GAA transistors
Results include improved Si GAA devices, better understanding of strain engineering in Ge nanowire pFETs, and a comprehensive understanding of reliability and degradation mechanisms of nanowire FETs.
GAA MOSFETs are promising candidates to extend the gate length and gate pitch scaling beyond what is possible with FinFETs.
The use of lateral nanowires or nanosheets has the advantage of a process flow that is not so disruptive compared to FinFET processing.
And by stacking the nanowires or nanosheets, the concept allows maximizing the drive current for a given footprint.
In three studies, Imec looks at process optimizations and a better understanding of strain engineering and reliability in GAA MOSFETs.
A first study shows how process improvements may significantly reduce the nanowire size and improve the shape controllability without degrading the electrical performance.
With these improvements, imec made Si GAA devices with a reduced vertical spacing, a large improvement of Ion/Ioff performance and short channel margin for both nMOS and pMOS devices.
The results were demonstrated by an improvement of the gate delay from 24ps down to 10ps in a ring oscillator.
A second study compared germanium nanowire pFETs with germanium FinFETs and reveaed the marked advantage of the former, mainly due to a more optimal strain engineering. The original demonstration of this work (IEDM 2017) has received the Paul Rappaport Award (presented at the plenary session at IEDM 2018, Monday Dec 3).
Last, an extensive mapping of n-, p- Si and p-Ge nanowire FETs in the entire bias space allowed to characterize the various degradation metrics and reveal multiple active degradation mechanisms.
“Gate-all-around nanowire transistors are promising candidates to replace FinFETs for nodes beyond N5, and this without too much disruption,” comments Naoto Horiguchi, distinguished member of the technical staff at imec. “These new results further optimize the processes to realize these transistors and provide us with more understanding, e.g. on optimal strain engineering and degradation mechanisms.”
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Government launches new cyber initiatives
Slowing worldwide GDP growth to hit semi market
EC OKs $2bn IoT initiative
Graphcore raises another $200m
GAA MOSFETs are promising candidates to extend the gate length and gate pitch scaling beyond what is possible with FinFETs.
The use of lateral nanowires or nanosheets has the advantage of a process flow that is not so disruptive compared to FinFET processing.
And by stacking the nanowires or nanosheets, the concept allows maximizing the drive current for a given footprint.
In three studies, Imec looks at process optimizations and a better understanding of strain engineering and reliability in GAA MOSFETs.
A first study shows how process improvements may significantly reduce the nanowire size and improve the shape controllability without degrading the electrical performance.
With these improvements, imec made Si GAA devices with a reduced vertical spacing, a large improvement of Ion/Ioff performance and short channel margin for both nMOS and pMOS devices.
The results were demonstrated by an improvement of the gate delay from 24ps down to 10ps in a ring oscillator.
A second study compared germanium nanowire pFETs with germanium FinFETs and reveaed the marked advantage of the former, mainly due to a more optimal strain engineering. The original demonstration of this work (IEDM 2017) has received the Paul Rappaport Award (presented at the plenary session at IEDM 2018, Monday Dec 3).
Last, an extensive mapping of n-, p- Si and p-Ge nanowire FETs in the entire bias space allowed to characterize the various degradation metrics and reveal multiple active degradation mechanisms.
“Gate-all-around nanowire transistors are promising candidates to replace FinFETs for nodes beyond N5, and this without too much disruption,” comments Naoto Horiguchi, distinguished member of the technical staff at imec. “These new results further optimize the processes to realize these transistors and provide us with more understanding, e.g. on optimal strain engineering and degradation mechanisms.”
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Government launches new cyber initiatives
Slowing worldwide GDP growth to hit semi market
EC OKs $2bn IoT initiative
Graphcore raises another $200m