TCAD simulation study of heavy ion radiation effects on hetero junctionless tunnel field effect transistor

K Aishwarya; B Lakshmi

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-58371-6

TCAD simulation study of heavy ion radiation effects on hetero junctionless tunnel field effect transistor

Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 1;14(1):7643. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-58371-6.

Authors

K Aishwarya¹, B Lakshmi²

Affiliations

¹ School of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India.
² Centre for Nano-Electronics and VLSI Design and School of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India. lakshmi.b@vit.ac.in.

Abstract

Semiconductor devices used in radiation environment are more prone to degradation in device performance. Junctionless Tunnel Field Effect Transistor (JLTFET) is one of the most potential candidates which overcomes the short channel effects and fabrication difficulties. In this work, 20 nm JLTFET is proposed with Silicon in the drain/channel region whereas source uses different materials, Silicon Germanium (SiGe), Gallium Nitride (GaN), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), Indium Arsenide (InAs). The device performance is examined by subjecting it to heavy ion radiation at a lower and higher dose of linear energy transfer (LET) values. It can be seen that the most sensitive location is the source/channel (S/C) interface for SiGe, GaN and GaAs whereas the drain/channel (D/C) interface for InAs. Further analysis is carried out at these vulnerable regions by matching I_ON of all materials. The parameters, transient peak current (I_peak), collected charge (Q_C), threshold voltage shift (ΔV_th) and bipolar gain (β) are extracted using transient simulations. It is observed that for a lower dose of LET, I_peak of SiGe is 27% lesser than InAs and for higher dose of LET, SiGe shows 56% lesser I_peak than InAs. SiGe is less sensitive at lower and higher dose of LET due to reduced ΔV_th, tunneling and electron density.

Keywords: GaAs; GaN; HJLTFET; Heavy ion radiation; InAs; SiGe.