Electrostatically Doped Junctionless Graphene Nanoribbon Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor for High-Performance Gas Sensing Applications: Leveraging Doping Gates for Multi-Gas Detection

Khalil Tamersit; Abdellah Kouzou; José Rodriguez; Mohamed Abdelrahem

doi:10.3390/nano14020220

Electrostatically Doped Junctionless Graphene Nanoribbon Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor for High-Performance Gas Sensing Applications: Leveraging Doping Gates for Multi-Gas Detection

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2024 Jan 19;14(2):220. doi: 10.3390/nano14020220.

Authors

Khalil Tamersit^{1

2

3}, Abdellah Kouzou^{4

5

6}, José Rodriguez⁷, Mohamed Abdelrahem^{6

8}

Affiliations

¹ National School of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Sidi Abdellah Technological Hub, Algiers 16000, Algeria.
² Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Université 8 Mai 1945 Guelma, Guelma 24000, Algeria.
³ Laboratory of Inverse Problems, Modeling, Information and Systems (PIMIS), Université 8 Mai 1945 Guelma, Guelma 24000, Algeria.
⁴ Applied Automation and Industrial Diagnosis Laboratory (LAADI), Faculty of Science and Technology, Djelfa University, Djelfa 17000, Algeria.
⁵ Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Nisantasi University, Istanbul 34398, Turkey.
⁶ High-Power Converter Systems (HLU), Technical University of Munich (TUM), 80333 Munich, Germany.
⁷ Center for Energy Transition, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago 8370146, Chile.
⁸ Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut 71516, Egypt.

Abstract

In this paper, a new junctionless graphene nanoribbon tunnel field-effect transistor (JLGNR TFET) is proposed as a multi-gas nanosensor. The nanosensor has been computationally assessed using a quantum simulation based on the self-consistent solutions of the mode space non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism coupled with the Poisson's equation considering ballistic transport conditions. The proposed multi-gas nanosensor is endowed with two top gates ensuring both reservoirs' doping and multi-gas sensing. The investigations have included the I_DS-V_GS transfer characteristics, the gas-induced electrostatic modulations, subthreshold swing, and sensitivity. The order of change in drain current has been considered as a sensitivity metric. The underlying physics of the proposed JLGNR TFET-based multi-gas nanosensor has also been studied through the analysis of the band diagrams behavior and the energy-position-resolved current spectrum. It has been found that the gas-induced work function modulation of the source (drain) gate affects the n-type (p-type) conduction branch by modulating the band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) while the p-type (n-type) conduction branch still unaffected forming a kind of high selectivity from operating regime point of view. The high sensitivity has been recorded in subthermionic subthreshold swing (SS < 60 mV/dec) regime considering small gas-induced gate work function modulation. In addition, advanced simulations have been performed for the detection of two different types of gases separately and simultaneously, where high-performance has been recorded in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, and electrical behavior. The proposed detection approach, which is viable, innovative, simple, and efficient, can be applied using other types of junctionless tunneling field-effect transistors with emerging channel nanomaterials such as the transition metal dichalcogenides materials. The proposed JLGNRTFET-based multi-gas nanosensor is not limited to two specific gases but can also detect other gases by employing appropriate gate materials in terms of selectivity.

Keywords: Graphene nanoribbon (GNR); band-to-band tunneling (BTBT); electrostatics; gas sensors; junctionless (JL); nanoscale; quantum simulation; tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs); work function (WF).

Grants and funding

The work of Khalil Tamersit was supported by the Royal Society through a grant awarded within the framework of the Royal Society Rising Star Africa Prize—2022.