Ultra-Thin Body, Short Channel Silicon Transistors Down to 3-nm Si Channel

We demonstrate ultra thin body, high- $\kappa $ , metal gate, Si transistors down to 3 nm Si channel thickness. We further show that there is an enhancement (~20%) of injection velocity when channel thickness in a short channel transistor is reduced from 6 nm, a thickness typically found in commercial transistors, to 3 nm. The increase in velocity leads to increased ON current and transconductance. Increased quantum confinement in ultra thin Si leads to an increased occupancy of the $\Delta _{{2}}$ subband, which is expected to decrease effective mass. We hypothesize that this renormalization leads to the observed increase in the ON current. Lowering channel thickness to atomic dimensions where quantum confinement is strong could lead to a completely new pathway for Si transistor scaling.