Low-Temperature Microwave Annealing for Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor

Unlike the high-temperature activation of dopants, such as rapid thermal annealing (RTA), the activation of dopants by low-temperature microwave annealing (MWA) suppresses their diffusion, reducing screening tunneling length (λ). This letter compares low-temperature (490 °C) MWA with high-temperature (1050 °C) RTA of a fin-shaped polycrystalline silicon (Poly-Si) tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET). The band-to-band tunneling voltage (VBTBT) indicates clearly that TFET annealed by MWA had a lower λ than TFET that was annealed by RTA. The TFET that was annealed by MWA had a high ON/OFF current ratio of 10
⁸
, a low subthreshold swing, and an almost negligible drain-induced barrier lowering.