Junctionless Silicon Nanowire Transistors without the Use of Impurity Doping

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

  • Soundarya Nagarajan - , Center for Molecular Bioengineering (B CUBE), NaMLab - Nanoelectronic materials laboratory gGmbH (Autor:in)
  • Dirk König - , Australian National University (Autor:in)
  • Ingmar Ratschinski - , Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (Autor:in)
  • Giulio Galderisi - , Professur für Nanoelektronik, NaMLab - Nanoelectronic materials laboratory gGmbH (Autor:in)
  • Somayeh Shams - , Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (Autor:in)
  • Thomas Mikolajick - , Professur für Nanoelektronik, NaMLab - Nanoelectronic materials laboratory gGmbH (Autor:in)
  • Daniel Hiller - , Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (Autor:in)
  • Jens Trommer - , NaMLab - Nanoelectronic materials laboratory gGmbH (Autor:in)

Abstract

With the shrinking dimensions of semiconductor structures reaching the nanoscale, conventional impurity doping techniques face several challenges due to their statistical nature, temperature dependence, and degradation in efficiency of the doping method. In addition, the cryogenic operation of highly doped transistors is complicated due to carrier freeze-out, which significantly reduces the availability of mobile charges, degrading device performance and inducing noise. Here, an innovative material solution is presented that enables silicon nanowire junctionless transistors without requiring impurity doping within the active semiconductor region. To this end, a SiO2 dielectric shell with deliberate defect engineering surrounding both the channel and the contact regions - known as direct modulation doping─is used to modify the nanoscale transport properties of the silicon. The obtained active carrier densities in the experiment are comparable to highly impurity-doped devices in the range of ∼1018⁡cm−3 and remain stable over a broad temperature range from 400 K down to 77 K. The primary advantage of removing dopants from the channel is evident in the enhanced field-effect mobilities, which increase from 115 to 331 cm2V–1s–1 as temperature decreases. The fabricated nanowire transistors in this work provide a high on/off ratio of ≥106, and a stable on-state performance down to 77 K. Hybrid-density-functional-theory calculations are carried out to show that there are no fundamental roadblocks to employing the method to devices with ultrascaled dimensions. The device architecture is positioned for applications in energy-efficient cryo-electronics and quantum technologies by addressing the limitations associated with conventional impurity doping.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)7508-7517
Seitenumfang10
FachzeitschriftACS nano
Jahrgang20
Ausgabenummer9
Frühes Online-Datum23 Feb. 2026
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 10 März 2026
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Externe IDs

PubMed 41728934
ORCID /0000-0003-3814-0378/work/211721441

Schlagworte

Schlagwörter

  • charge carrier transport, cryogenic electronics, direct modulation doping, junctionless transistor, silicon transistor