In0.53Ga0.47As-Based nMOSFET Design for Low Standby Power Applications

III–V n-channel MOSFETs based on In
_x
Ga
_1−x
As are evaluated for low-power (LP) technology at a sub-10-nm technology node. Aggressive design rules are followed, while industry-relevant FinFET architecture is selected. We show, for the first time, quantum confinement-related leakage and performance tradeoff done self-consistently in performance evaluation using an in-house developed semiclassical tool. In this paper, we focus on In
_0.53
Ga
_0.47
As as the channel material, as it has been investigated heavily in the literature. Furthermore, it has a bulk bandgap
$E_{G}$
similar to that of Ge, another highly studied complementary p-FET channel material. Higher In-content results in lower
$E_{G}$
and hence larger band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) current, resulting in more stringent design requirements for LP applications. A comparison is done with the state-of-the-art tensile-Si (t-Si) technology, with roughly 2-GPa stress, under similar constraints (
$L_{G}$
, design rules). Thus, we show that while for 0.75 V operation, In
_0.53
Ga
_0.47
As performance is limited by the BTBT and fails to outperform t-Si, it starts to perform better than t-Si below 0.7 V.
$V_{{\rm {DD}}}$
scaling further results in an increased performance gap between the two material systems.