Performance investigation of an extended source germanium reconfigurable field effect transistor for advanced CMOS applications

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the electrical characteristics of a reconfigurable Schottky barrier transistor that utilizes germanium as the channel material and features an extended source region. The impact of critical design parameters on the device performance is thoroughly assessed. The device is capable of achieving both n-type and p-type operation on a single device by adjusting the appropriate bias for the electrodes, without the need for additional physical doping. The proposed device offers a wider tunneling area at the interface of the source and channel region, leading to an improvement in device switching performance and a reduction in the threshold voltage required for the onset of tunneling. The gate workfunction is a crucial design parameter that should be optimized to minimize the off-state current for both n-type and p-type operation. The findings reveal that the on/off current ratio of 5.26×104 and 5.9×104 can be attained for n-type and p-type operation, respectively. Furthermore, the analog performance of the device has been examined, and a cut-off frequency of fT=3GHz has been achieved for n-type and p-type device. These results provide valuable insights into the development of low-power reprogrammable logic circuits.