Tunnel-FET inverters for ultra-low power logic with supply voltage down to VDD = 0.2 V

Complementary MOSFET and Tunnel-FET inverters based on tri-gated strained Si nanowire arrays are demonstrated. The voltage transfer characteristics as well as the inverter supply currents of both inverter types are analyzed and compared. A degradation of the inverter output voltage is observed due to the ambipolar TFET characteristics. Emulated TFET inverters based on the measured transfer characteristics of SiGe/Si heterostructure nanowire array n-channel TFETs with reduced ambipolarity demonstrate inverter switching for supply voltages down to V
_DD
= 0.2 V.