Comparative study of subthreshold leakage in CNFET & MOSFET @ 32-nm technology node

Traditional MOS technology has served the industry for years but now, it has become very difficult to continue Moore's law using Dennard's scaling principles. One of the major reasons which limit the scaling of MOS devices is the dramatic increase in the leakage currents. Thus, researchers are continuously trying to develop new technologies to extend Moore's law beyond 22-nm technology node. One of these newly emerging technologies is carbon nanotube field effect transistor which is very promising alternative owing to the desirable electrical, physical and mechanical properties of the carbon nanotube. This paper presents a comparative study of the subthreshold leakage current and the various factors affecting it in a CNFET and a MOS device at 32-nm technology node. All the simulations have been carried out in SPICE circuit simulator.