1.5 nm direct-tunneling gate oxide Si MOSFET's

• Published in: IEEE transactions on electron devices Vol. 43; no. 8; pp. 1233 - 1242
• Main Authors: Sasaki, H., Ono, M., Yoshitomi, T., Ohguro, T., Nakamura, S., Saito, M., Iwai, H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-08-1996
• Subjects: Hot carriers; Impurities; Insulation; Integrated circuit technology; Leakage current; MOSFET circuits; Semiconductor devices; Temperature; Transconductance; Tunneling
• ISSN: 0018-9383; 1557-9646
• DOI: 10.1109/16.506774

In this paper, normal operation of a MOSFET with an ultra-thin direct-tunneling gate oxide is reported for the first time. These high current drive n-MOSFET's were fabricated with a 1.5 nm direct-tunneling gate oxide. They operate well at gate lengths of around 0.1 /spl mu/m, because the gate leakage current falls in proportional to the gate length, while the drain current increases in inverse proportion. A current drive of more than 1.0 mA//spl mu/m and a transconductance of more than 1,000 mS/mm were obtained at a gate length of 0.09 /spl mu/m at room temperature. These are the highest values ever obtained with Si MOSFET's at room temperature. Further, hot-carrier reliability is shown to improve as the thickness of the gate oxide is reduced, even in the 1.5 nm case. This work clarifies that excellent performance-a transconductance of over 1,000 mS/mm at room temperature-can be obtained with Si MOSFET's if a high-capacitance gate insulator is used.