Origin of Low-Frequency Noise in Triple-Gate Junctionless n-MOSFETs

The low-frequency noise in triple-gate junctionless n-MOSFETs, with channel lengths varying from 95 to 25 nm and operating in the bulk and accumulation modes, is investigated by measurements in the frequency and time domains. The experimental drain current noise spectra present 1/f and Lorentzian-type behavior components. The noise spectra in the time domain reveal that the Lorentzian-type behavior components are due to the capture and emission processes of carriers at discrete gate insulator traps, resulting in random telegraph noise (RTN). The 1/f behavior can be described by the carrier number with the correlated mobility fluctuations model. In the below-threshold region, the conducting channel is isolated from the interface by depletion region. In the above-threshold region (bulk conduction mode), the histograms of the time-domain data show multilevel switching events, from which one or more individual traps can be distinguished. The extracted time constants of two-level RTN signals indicate the interaction of a single trap either with the channel or with both channel and gate. The relative RTN amplitude is described with the carrier number with the mobility correlated fluctuations physics-based model or with the “hole in the inversion layer” stochastic simulation-based model, enabling estimation of the flat-band voltage fluctuation caused by the RTN.