CURRENT CONTROLLED FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR

Description

[0001] The invention generally relates to electronic devices such as transistors. Various aspects of the present invention include methods and devices relating to field effect transistors that may be controlled by gate currents.

[0002] Electronic devices such as diodes, transistors and the like are commonly used in many items found in homes, offices, vehicles, personal electronics, industrial and aerospace applications, medical devices and elsewhere. Generally speaking, a transistor is a three-terminal device that provides, for example, amplification or switching capabilities in analog and digital circuits. Recently, efforts have been focused upon creating transistors that perform various functions with reduced power consumption. Reduced power consumption is particularly desirable in applications that require batteries that may need to be replaced when power is expended. In medical devices (such as pacemakers), satellite devices, and other applications, battery replacement can be extremely inconvenient, so the need for so-called "micropower" components is increased. In addition, low power devices are typically preferred for ultra-large-scale-integration (ULSI) circuits, which frequently require low power devices to minimize total power dissipation.

[0003] Various forms of transistors are shown in Figure 1. Such transistors generally fall into one of two categories corresponding to field effect transistors (FETs) and bipolar junction transistors (BJTs). Generally speaking, FETs operate in response to a voltage applied at a gate terminal that suitably controls a depletion region that affects current flow in a semiconducting channel. BJTs are typically characterized by a joining of two P-N junctions, as best seen in Figure 1(c).

[0004] Presently, the majority of "standard" transistor devices used in microprocessor and other digital applications are complementary metal oxide semiconductor FETs (CMOS) operating in a strong inversion regime where input voltage, V_gs, is greater than a threshold voltage V_th In such transistors the current flowing in a semiconducting channel (drain current, I_d) typically varies as (V_gs-V_th)². V_th for such devices may be around 0.7V and current flow in the channel may be in the milli-amp range. A biasing configuration of an exemplary strongly inverted n-channel prior art MOSFET device is shown by Figure 1(a).

[0005] For applications requiring minimal current flow, CMOS based circuits may be biased as so-called "sub-threshold MOSFETs" operating in a weak inversion regime where gate-source voltage V_gs is less than V_th. Figure 1(b) shows exemplary biasing conditions for a weakly inverted n-channel MOSFET. Under these conditions the MOSFET drain current, I_d, typically varies in the picoamp to microamp range and is given by

where U_T=kT/e, which may be about 25.8 mV at room temperature, µ is the carrier mobility, C_ox is the oxide capacitance and W/L is the width-to-length ratio of the transistor.

[0006] The low drain currents and small voltage required for drain current saturation (e.g. V_d^sat ≥3UT ~75m V) of devices operating in the weak inversion regime makes sub-threshold operation ideal for micropower circuit applications such as pocket calculators, pagers, medical implants, ULS1 logic etc.. The main disadvantage of such devices, however, is low speed. Cut-off frequency in the weak inversion regime is typically given by f_T=µU_T/2πL_g². For a weakly inverted NMOS device µ is on the order of 200cm²/Vs and for L_g=3µm, creating an operating frequency of about 9MHz, although stable operation generally takes place at much lower frequencies (e.g. on the order of about 200-500 kHz).

[0007] A distinction between transistors operating in the weak inversion or weak accumulation regime (as opposed to the strong inversion or strong accumulation regime) is that the drain current in the weak inversion or weak accumulation operating regime typically varies exponentially with the difference between the gate-source voltage and the threshold voltage (e.g. V_gs-V_th). Small variations in V_th therefore typically produce large variations in I_d because of the exponential nature of equation 1. Attempting to improve the speed f_T of micropower devices by reducing gate length L_g, then, is not typically practical because of difficulties in precisely matching threshold voltages V_th between devices. For this reason many micropower circuits typically have undesirably long gates (e.g. L_g ≥ 1µm) and typically operate below 1 MHz.

[0008] Controlling a transistor with an input bias current has been used with various BJT devices wherein collector current I_c may be expressed as exp(V_be/U_T). It is generally impractical to use base-emitter voltage, V_be, to control I_c due to the exponential dependency of current (I_c) on base-emitter voltage (V_be). Rather than using base-emitter voltage, many BJTs use input base current, I_b, to control I_c via the current gain β, i.e. I_c=βI_b. Such control via current bias configuration for an exemplary NPN BJT is shown in Figure 1(c).

[0009] In principal, prior art BJT devices could be used in the micropower regime by applying a sufficiently small base current to ensure that I_c is in the picoamp to microamp range. However, because BJTs are generally minority carrier devices, charging the input diffusion capacitance (i.e. C_diff of the forward biased base-emitter junction) takes an undesirable amount of time, thus causing the cut-off frequency to be undesirably small. BJTs typically are not used as a micropower device at high frequencies.

[0010] An alternate prior art transistor configuration is the metal-semiconductor FET or MESFET. MESFETs are typically used as depletion mode devices (i.e. the channel is conducting for V_gs= 0) and may be switched off by applying a reverse bias voltage to the Schottky gate input. To make this kind of depletion mode MESFET, the active channel layer is generally relatively thick and relatively heavily doped such that the depletion region under the gate is smaller than the channel thickness for V_gs=0. A typical biasing configuration for an n-channel MESFET is shown in Fig. Id.

[0011] Referring to Fig. 1d, for an n-channel depletion mode MESFET, the threshold voltage V_th is typically less than zero and the gate voltage is varied in the range V_th < V_gs < 0 to control the drain current, which varies as some small power of the difference between the gate-source voltage and the threshold voltage (e.g. V_gs-V_th). In this configuration the current flowing into the gate is that due to a reverse-biased Schottky junction. In many devices, the gate current is designed to be negligibly small compared to the drain current. The gate current typically plays no role in the control of the drain current other than to establish the gate voltage. Stated another way, gate current in such MESFETs is typically a mere 'leakage' current that is generally intended to be kept to the lowest possible levels.

[0012] Enhancement-mode MESFETs have also been created such that the depletion region extends across the active channel layer at V_gs=0 as shown in Figure 2. The transistor is switched on by applying a forward bias voltage to the gate such that the depletion region extends across only a part of the semiconducting channel. The voltage applied to the gate, however, typically has to be kept low enough such that the gate input current is much less than the drain current. Once again, the gate current typically plays no role in the control of the drain current other than to establish a gate voltage. As such, drain current I_d is controlled by the gate voltage and varies as some small power of (V_gs-V_th). In this configuration the transistor is generally considered to be conducting when the gate-source voltage is greater than the threshold voltage (i.e. when V_gs > V_th). When enhancement-mode MESFETs are switched on, these devices typically operate in the regime of strong accumulation (analogous to strong inversion in a MOSFET) and drain current is typically in the milliamp range. This level of current is generally highly undesirable for micropower applications because of the associated high power consumption. Generally, it is desirable that micropower devices have drain currents in the micro- to picoamp range.

[0013] An important difference between the MOSFET and MESFET is the presence of an insulating layer between the gate (input) electrode and the conducting channel of a MOSFET. Without the gate insulator the semiconductor surface cannot be inverted and the MOSFET drain current is negligible. The insulator must be thick enough that no current can leak from the gate to the channel. As the gate length of the MOSFET is reduced to smaller geometries, however, the thickness of the insulating gate oxide is reduced proportionally. For very thin gate insulators excessive currents can flow from the gate, through the insulator, to the channel. This gate leakage current is expected to limit the minimum allowable gate insulator thickness, which in turn will limit the minimum gate length of the MOSFET. In contrast the MESFET does not require a gate insulator. Consequently, it is expected that MESFETs may be scalable to smaller dimensions than MOSFETs.

[0014] EP-A-o 184 827 discloses a semiconductor device suited to be operated at high frequency with high power. The device comprises a semiconducting channel connecting two electrodes. On the semiconducting channel, a heavily doped semiconductor control electrode is provided. Holes are injected into the channel at the control electrode. The device can be operated to modulate the current between the two electrodes by hole injection at the control electrode, similar to a bipolar transistor.

[0015] EP-A-o 268 386 discloses a current-controlling semiconductor device designed for ultra-fast switching time. Contacts, corresponding to source and drain terminals in a conventional field effect transistor, are arranged with an interconnecting semiconducting channel. An injector layer is separated from the channel by a tunnelling barrier. To turn on the transistor, a voltage is applied to bias the injector layer to the tunnelling threshold. Charge carriers tunnelling through the tunnelling barrier are injected into the channel to lower channel resistance.

[0016] US-A-4277883 discloses a method for making a pair of complementary interconnected transistors. In one embodiment, an n-channel depletion-mode MESFET is combined with a p-channel enhancement mode MOSFET. Making of an enhancement mode field effect transistor is mentioned.

[0017] It is the object of the invention, to provide a method for producing an output current in a device, which is well suited for micro power application.

[0018] This object is solved by the method according to claim 1 and the device according to claim 11. Dependent claims refer to preferred embodiments.

[0019] In the following, various embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1a is a schematic representation of a MOSFET operated in the strong inversion regime;

Figure 1b is a schematic representation of a MOSFET operated in the weak inversion regime;

Figure 1c is a schematic representation of a BJT;

Figure 1d is a schematic representation of a depletion mode MESFET;

Figure 2 is a schematic representation of a prior art enhancement mode MESFET;

Figure 3 is a schematic representation of a Schottky junction formed on an n-type semiconductor;

Figure 4 is a schematic representation of an exemplary Schottky Junction Transistor (SJT) as disclosed by the present invention;

Figure 5 is an exemplary computer generated SJT mesh structure modeling the electrical behavior of the SJT device;

Figure 6 is an exemplary plot of drain current and gate current as a function of gate voltage;

Figure 7 is an exemplary plot of current gain as a function of drain current;

Figure 8 is an exemplary plot of drain current versus drain voltage for different gate currents;

Figure 9 is a schematic representation of an exemplary SJT showing the extent of the depletion region across the semiconducting channel;

Figure 10 is a schematic representation of an exemplary process flow that may be used to fabricate complementary n- and p-channel SJTs on the same substrate;

Figure 11 is an exemplary plot of drain current against gate current for complementary n- and p-channel SJTs; and

Figure 12 is an exemplary plot of the gate capacitance of an n-channel SJT as a function of drain current.

Overview

[0020] According to various aspects of the invention, an enhancement mode MESFET is produced whereby channel drain current is controlled by the application of a bias current into, or out of, the gate electrode of the MESFET. By carefully selecting channel doping. N_D, channel thickness, a, and gate length, L, current gain greater than 1 (e.g. β > 1) can be achieved for devices manufactured in accordance to the methods described below. For example, gate current control of drain current described by the present invention may be made analogous to base current control of collector current in BJTs. It is therefore appropriate that devices made in accordance with the present invention be considered as Schottky Junction Transistors (SJTs). Because the SJT is a majority carrier device, however, it may not suffer from the same minority carrier problems as the BJT. Specifically, various embodiments of the SJT will not typically exhibit the diffusion capacitance created by minority carriers in BJTs, since SJTs do do not typically depend on minority carriers for their operation. As a result, the input capacitance of the SJT gate electrode may be orders of magnitude smaller than the input capacitance of a BJT, thus allowing the SJT to operate at much higher frequencies in the micropower regime.

[0021] In various embodiments, both input gate current and output drain current of the SJT may be made to vary exponentially with the applied gate bias by selecting appropriate layer thickness and doping concentrations, making the ratio of gate current to drain current (e.g. the gain of the device) relatively independent of threshold voltage. By removing the effects of threshold voltage on the drain-current-to-gate-current ratio, transistor matching in the sub-threshold regime is improved and device gate lengths can be made substantially shorter thus allowing for transistor operation at significantly higher frequencies. Additionally, various SJT devices have been found to be particularly suitable for drain currents in the range applicable to micropower circuit applications (i.e. picoamps to microamps). Moreover, digital circuit applications can be realized using complementary n- and p-channel devices as taught by the present invention. Micropower analog and digital circuits made from SJTs may therefore be capable of operating at higher frequencies than those made using conventional devices such as weakly inverted MOSFETs.

[0022] An additional advantage of various embodiments of the SJT is that circuits made using complementary versions of the device suitably take up less area than prior art MOSFET circuits. The reduction in area occurs for two reasons. First, the device does not typically require an insulator between gate and channel, so the gate lengths of both n- and p-channel devices can be made smaller than those in conventional MOSFETs. Secondly, the complementary n- and p-channel SJTs may be made with conducting channels of the same or similar width. In conventional CMOS circuits, p-channel devices may be approximately twice as wide as n-channel devices. Digital circuits made from complementary version of the new device may therefore be able to achieve higher integration levels than conventional CMOS because of (i) the reduction in width of the p-channel device and (ii) the ability to scale the gate length to smaller dimensions. Other advantages associated with the lack of a gate insulator in the current invention are (i) reduced input (gate) capacitance and (ii) reduced manufacturing complexity.

Analytical Basis

[0023] The analytical basis of various exemplary embodiments may be summarized by equation (2) below.

[0024] In deriving equasion 2, it is useful to first consider an enhancement mode n-type GaAs MESFET for which the gate current is given by:

where W, L are the channel width and length, φ_h is the Schottky barrier height and A* is the Richardson constant. If the MESFET is weakly accumulated, the drain current may be written as:

where
   1<α<2
   N₊ = source and drain contact doping concentrations
   N_D = channel doping concentration
   a = channel thickness

[0025] Assuming αN+/N_D=1 and taking V_ds>3U_T gives



Taking the ratio of equations (5) and (6) gives the current gain of the device

[0026] Figure 3 is an energy-band diagram of an exemplary metal to n-type semiconductor Schottky junction. The diagram shows the relationship between the Schottky barrier height, φ_b, the built-in voltage, V_bi and the extent of depletion region, W. Built-in voltage is the potential difference that forms between the Schottky gate and the semiconducting channel (see below) as a result of the Schottky barrier. From Figure 3 it can be seen that the Schottky barrier height and the built-in voltage may be related by:

From standard texts it can be shown that:

and

From equations (8), (9) and (10) it can be shown that:

and substituting this term into eq. (7) gives

[0027] It will be appreciated that equation 11 may be expressed as a constant term multiplied by an exponentiated constant term. Hence, by using a gate current to bias the sub-threshold FET, the terms in V_gs-V_th (which lead to drain current variations) have been cancelled, and the drain current fluctuates in response to variations in doping and channel thickness; thus, the fluctuations in threshold voltage may be substantially removed from the problem. As a result, transistor matching may be made significantly easier, and circuits using FETs with shorter gate lengths may be created, thus allowing significantly faster operating frequencies than voltage-controlled devices.

[0028] As an example, consider an exemplary GaAs MESFET with a 5µm gate length, and a=80nm, N_D=10¹⁷ cm^-3 and ϕ_b=0.8V. Using these values and ordinary approximations, the threshold voltage may be estimated to be V_th=0.31V and equation 8 gives a current gain of about 29, which may actually be underestimated.

Exemplary Embodiment

[0029] Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of an exemplary Schottky junction transistor 200. According to various embodiments and with reference how to Figure 4, an exemplary SJT 200 suitably includes an optional insulating layer 204 placed on a substrate 202. A semiconducting channel 206 is placed on insulating layer 204 (or substrate 202 in alternate embodiments). Source terminal 210, gate terminal 214 and drain terminal 208 are formed on channel 206 as appropriate.

[0030] SJTs could be fabricated with any technology such as gallium arsenide, silicon, silicon-on-insulator (SOI), or the like. SOI generally allows insulating layer 204 directly under channel 206, which may reduce substrate leakage effects. SOI is also compatible with mainstream silicon process technology. Substrate 202 may be a silicon substrate as shown in Figure 4, or any other substrate material such as gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, poly-crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, silicon dioxide (glass) or the like could be used. Insulating layer 204 may be deposited, sputtered, or otherwise placed on substrate 202 and may be formed of buried silicon dioxide (as shown in Figure 4) or any other suitable insulating material such as silicon nitride. Conventional SOI technology is capable of producing buried oxides with thicknesses in the range 0.05 to 0.4 µm, although other thicknesses may also be used. Other techniques such as wafer bonding, for example, are capable of producing buried oxides thicker than 10 µm or more. The thickness of insulating layer 204 will vary from embodiment to embodiment, but may be on the order of 2-5 µm, such as about .35 µm.

[0031] Semiconducting channel 206 may be sputtered, deposited, grown or otherwise formed on insulating layer 204 as appropriate. In the embodiment shown in Figure 4, channel 206 is shown as n-type silicon for the n-channel devices, although p-type silicon would be used for the p-channel devices. Alternatively, any other semiconducting material such as GaAs, GaN, poly-crystalline silicon, amorphous silicon etc. could be used. Conventional SOI technology is capable of producing silicon surface layers with a thicknesses in the range 0.01 to 0.2 µm or so. Other existing techniques such as wafer bonding, for example, may be capable of producing silicon surface layers that are thicker than 1.0 or more µm. In an exemplary embodiment, channel 206 is formed of a silicon layer having thickness a = 0.05 µm that has been doped n-type to a concentration N_D=10¹⁷ cm^-3, although of course other materials, dopants and dopant concentrations may be used in other embodiments.

[0032] In various embodiments, gate terminal 214 (also called a "gate electrode" or simply "gate") is fashioned on channel 206 as a Schottky junction according to any technique. Gate terminal may be formed of cobalt di-silicide (CoSi₂), aluminum, platinum or any other material that forms a Schottky barrier when deposited on semiconducting channel 206. Cobalt di-silicide, for example, has been shown to form almost ideal Schottky diodes to n-type silicon and is compatible with silicon processing. In various embodiments, current technology would allow the fabrication of gate lengths that may vary from about 0.01 µm to about 5 µm or more (such as about .5 µm), although of course dimensions will vary from embodiment to embodiment. Source terminal 210 (also called "source") and drain terminal 208 (also called "drain") may be fashioned on channel 206 in any manner, and may be formed of any conducting material such as aluminum, copper, gold, silver or any other metal or silicide that forms a low resistance, ohmic contact to the semiconducting channel. To aid the formation of low resistance ohmic contacts the semiconducting channel beneath the contact regions (212) may be heavily implanted with dopant atoms. For n-channel silicon devices these dopants may be arsenic or phosphorus or any other material that forms an n-type region to the semiconducting channel 206. For p-channel silicon devices the dopants may be boron or any other material that forms a p-type region to the semiconducting channel. The distance between source and drain varies from embodiment to embodiment, but using current technologies and design rules this distance may be about 0:03 µm about 10 µm, such as about 0.9 µm in an exemplary embodiment. The surface of channel 206 between the various terminals may optionally be covered with a protective layer 220 of silicon dioxide (SiO₂) or any other material.

[0033] In various embodiments, the dopants and concentration of dopants in channel 206 are selected such that a depletion region 216 is formed near gate 214 that effectively closes (or nearly closes) current flow 218 from drain 208 to source 210 when zero bias voltage V_ds is applied. If a positive bias voltage V_ds is applied between the drain and source terminals, the magnitude of drain current 218 flowing in channel becomes dependent upon the gate current I_g applied at gate terminal 214, which is a Schottky junction. By varying the gate current I_g, the drain current I_d may be suitably adjusted and controlled without regard to threshold voltage, as shown by the "Analytical Basis" section above.

[0034] The depletion region may be formed by the presence of the Schottky contact above the semiconducting channel. The depletion region extends a vertical distance, W, below the Schottky contact into the semiconducting channel. In various embodiments, the depletion region is a consequence of the band bending that occurs in the conduction band and valence band of a semiconducting material placed in contact with another material that forms a Schottky contact to said semiconducting material. The distance W may be determined in accordance with Equation 12, as described below.

[0035] Operation of an exemplary SIT device 200 as shown in Figure 4 was simulated as a two-dimensional computer model using MEDICI software tools (available from Avant! TCAD of Freemont California). The MEDICI software partitions the structure into a mesh on which it solves the relevant device equations as appropriate. An exemplary mesh is shown in Figure 5 that may be used to calculate currents flowing in device 200. Figure 6 shows exemplary gate currents 604 and drain currents 602 plotted as a function of voltage applied to the gate. For gate voltages in the range 0 < V_gs < 0.3, the drain current 602 shown is larger than the gate current 604, and both gate and drain currents increase exponentially with V_gs. An exemplary ratio of I_d to I_g (i.e. the current gain, β) is shown in Figure 7 plotted as a function of drain current. As can be seen in the Figure, the exemplary current gain shown varies with I_d, and may be in the range 40-100 over almost 3 decades of drain current.

[0036] Figure 8 shows the drain current of an exemplary SJT 200 as a function of drain voltage for different input bias currents applied to the gate, with data presented in units of nanoAmps (1nA=10^-9 Amperes) per micron of gate width. The graph shows good current saturation for high V_ds, which translates to a high output resistance as may be desired for many analog and digital circuit applications. It will be appreciated that in Figure 8 a gate current is used to control which I_d- V_ds trace is selected. This is in contrast to prior art MESFETs where a gate voltage is used to select the I_d - V_ds trace.

[0037] The numeric simulations described above illustrate the important differences between a prior art enhancement mode MESFET and the Schottky Junction Transistor. Figure 6 shows an exemplary embodiment in which drain current 602 flowing in the SJT varies exponentially with V_gs over the entire useful range (or a substantial portion of the useful range) of the gate current 604. In such embodiments, the conducting channel of the SJT may be weakly accumulated under normal operating conditions. This is in contrast to prior art enhancement mode MESFETs for which the channel is designed to be in strong accumulation when the device is switched on. The SJT may be weakly accumulated when the thickness and doping concentration in the semiconducting channel have been chosen such that the depletion region extends across the bulk of the channel under normal operating conditions. The extent of the depletion region at the source end of the semiconducting channel in various embodiments may be calculated using equation 12 below.

   where W is the width of the depletion region, N_D represents a dopant concentration, ε and q are constants, V_bi is a built-in voltage between gate terminal 214 and semiconducting channel 206, and V_gs is a voltage applied between gate terminal 214 and source terminal 210. From equations (8) and (9), the built-in voltage V_bi for the exemplary embodiment described above may be calculated to be about 0.435V. From equation (12) the depletion region at the source end of the channel for the exemplary embodiment used to derive this exemplary embodiment, may extend a distance of 75 nm, 65 nm, 55 nm, 49 nm and 42 nm for gate voltages of 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3V respectively. The depletion region 216 at the source end of semiconducting channel 206 is shown to be only significantly smaller than the channel thickness of 50 nm for gate voltages V_gs > 0.3V. The extent of depletion region 216 across semiconducting channel 206 is shown schematically in Figure 9. For the exemplary embodiment described above the normal operating range of the SJT may allow gate currents up to a maximum value, I_g^max, which for this exemplary embodiment may be approximately 1 µA/µm. Above this value the voltage developed on the gate may significantly exceed 0.3 V, depletion region 216 at the source end of the channel may be much less than 50 nm and semiconducting channel 206 may no longer be weakly accumulated. As a result the drain current may no longer vary exponentially with (V_gs-V_th) and the current gain may decrease rapidly with increasing I_g until β< 1 such that the gate current can no longer be used to control the drain current.

Complementary Devices

[0038] Circuit applications often require that complementary p- and n-channel devices be integrated on the same chip. Complementary versions of the SJT 200 may be integrated on a single substrate 202 by any technique, such as that disclosed in Figure 10. With reference now to Figure 10, an exemplary multi-SJT circuit 700 may by formed on a single substrate 202, which may be a part of an SOI wafer, or any other suitable wafer or substrate. In an exemplary embodiment, the starting substrate 202 may exhibit a low doping concentration (e.g. N_A, N_D ≤ about 10¹⁵ cm^-3). In one embodiment of an SJT circuit 700, for example, SOI substrate 200 may be doped n-type at the level 10¹⁵cm^-3. The buried oxide thickness may be on the order of 0.2 microns to 1 micron (e.g. about 0.4 µm) and the surface silicon layer may be on the order of .05-5 microns (e.g about 0.12 µm) thick

[0039] Channels 206 for the various devices (such as channels 206A and 206B in Figure 10) may be isolated by mesa etching, ion beam induced damage, or any other technique. The n-type dopants for the n-channel device 200A may be introduced by ion implantation or any other suitable technique, as are the p-type dopants for the p-channel device 200B (Figure 10(d)). In an exemplary embodiment, n-channels 206A may be formed by implanting phosphorous at an energy of about 25 keV to a dose of about 3.5x10¹¹ cm^-2. P-channels 206B may be formed by implanting boron at an energy of about 10 keV to a dose of about 2.8x10¹¹ cm^-2. Of course dopants, implants, energy levels and doses described herein are for illustrative purposes only, and actual implementations may vary widely from embodiment to embodiment.

[0040] An optional oxide or other insulator 220 may be formed on the surface of semiconducting layer 206 and on insulating layer 204 (for example, as shown in Figure 10(c)) by thermal oxidation of the silicon, by deposition, or by any other suitable technique. If thermal oxidation is used, some of channel 206 may be consumed, and the thickness of channel 206 will be less than that of the original silicon on the surface of SOI layer 722. As may be appropriate, the channel thickness used to calculate device operation may be the final thickness after oxidation.

[0041] Source and drain contacts 708 to the n-channel devices may be formed by opening windows in the insulating layer 220 above the n-channel devices 200A and implanting a relatively heavy dose of arsenic (or any other suitable material) into the exposed silicon (Figure 10(c)). Likewise, the source and drain contacts 708 to the p-channel devices 200B may be formed by opening windows in the insulating layer 220 above the p-channel devices and implanting a relatively high dose of boron into the exposed silicon. The source and drain implants may be activated by a high temperature anneal (on the order of about 800-1000 degrees for about 1-60 minutes), or through any other suitable technique. In an exemplary embodiment, the implanted channels may be suitably annealed at 950° C for 45 minutes, or otherwise processed to completion.

[0042] A window may also be opened in insulator 220 (Figure 10(c)) to expose the underlying silicon in those regions where Schottky gates 214 are to be formed. The gate metal (such as cobalt di-silicide or another metal) may then be deposited and, if necessary, annealed to form the Schottky barrier. A single gate metal may be used to form the Schottky gate to both the n-channel and p-channel devices. In various embodiments, however, the properties of the n- and p-channel devices 200 can be tailored somewhat differently if a different Schottky material is used for each. Devices may then wired together to form the circuit by depositing a highly conducting interconnnect layer such as aluminum, copper, gold, or the like. Further windows in insulating layer 220 may be made to accommodate interconnections between devices, as appropriate.

[0043] Exemplary complementary n- and p-channel devices of the type described in this disclosure have been simulated based on the process flow described above. For this experiment, the processing of the devices was simulated using the Avant! TCAD package TSUPREME-4. After process simulation the electrical characteristics of n-and p-channel devices with exemplary 0.5 µm gate lengths were simulated using MEDICI. Although the results of the simulation are presented, for example, in Figures 11-12 for illustrative purposes, it will be understood that results obtained from the many embodiments of the invention may vary widely from those presented here. For example, many different parameters for device dimensions, dopants, dopant concentrations, and the like will suitably create performance characteristics that vary dramatically from embodiment to embodiment.

[0044] Figure 11 shows the output drain current resulting from an exemplary simulation as a function of the input gate current for the two devices The figure shows results from an exemplary n-channel device 200A with a drain bias V_ds=1.0V applied and results from an exemplary p-channel device with V_ds=-1.0V applied. For the n-channel device the gate current and drain currents are both positive while for the p-channel device they are both negative. Figure 11 shows the magnitudes of these exemplary currents, and shows that over a wide range of gate current bias the two devices are complementary (i.e. the drain current in the p-channel device is equal in magnitude, but opposite in sign to an n-channel device of the same dimensions if the input gate current is also equal in magnitude but opposite in sign). The device processing conditions (e.g. channel implant energies, doses and anneal times etc.) may be chosen to give the highest complementarity for gate bias magnitudes in the range 10^-10 to 10^-9 A. Different complementarity at higher or lower current ranges can be achieved by modifying the processing conditions, primarily by varying the channel doping and/or thickness to change the gain as taught by equation (2).

[0045] The cut-off frequency of a field effect transistor is generally given by f_T=g_m/2πC_g, and transconductance g_m=dI_d/dV_gs can be shown from equation (1) to be g_m=I_d/U_T. The total gate capacitance, C_g, of the device described by the current invention can be simulated using MEDICI.

[0046] An exemplary plot of input (i.e. gate) capacitance for a 0.5 µm gate length n-channel device with an ion-implanted channel (implanted with phosphorus at an energy E=25keV to a dose of 3.5x10¹¹ cm^-2) of thickness a = 0.12 µm is shown in Figure 12. For this particular exemplary embodiment, the post-implant anneal was assumed to be at 950° C for 45 minutes, the gate length is assumed to be 0.5 µm and the drain bias assumed to be 1.0V, although of course various other parameters could be used. As can be readily discerned from Figure 12, the total capacitance of this exemplary SJT device may be orders of magnitude smaller than an equivalent bipolar junction transistor because of the absence of the minority charge diffusion capacitance. As a result, the SJT modeled may operate in the micropower regime at much higher frequencies than a comparable BJT. Moreover, shorter gate lengths may be enabled, thus allowing increased operating frequencies compared to prior art weakly inverted CMOS circuits. With continued reference to Figure 12, the input capacitance at a drain bias of about 1 µA/µm may be about 3.5x10^-16 F/µm, which may correspond to a cut-off frequency of about 18 GHz. The gate capacitance of the new device may also be smaller than a prior art MOSFET of the same dimensions. The input capacitance of a conventional MOSFET is generally governed by the so-called oxide capacitance, C_ox, and for a strongly inverted MOSFET with a 2 nm gate oxide and L_g=0.5µm, oxide capacitance C_ox is about 80 x10^-16 F/µm. As a result, various embodiments of SITs may have cut-off frequencies approximately 20 times faster than prior art MOSFETs of the same dimensions carrying the same current.

[0047] It will be appreciated that the SJT may be in the regime of weak accumulation (e.g. with a bias voltage less than the threshold voltage V_th), which may be considered to be in some ways analogous to the case of weak inversion for the MOSFET. If the input gate current of the SJT is increased beyond a certain value (corresponding to V_th) the device may move into the strong accumulation regime and equation (2) may no longer be valid. The ratio of I_d to I_g will decrease as I_g increases and at some point I_g will be larger than I_d. When this occurs, performance of the SJT may be comparable to that of an enhancement mode MESFET with V_gs>V_th and a heavily leaking gate. Various embodiments of the SJT may therefore be considered as an enhancement mode MESFETs operating below threshold (i.e. V_gs < V_th). In this regime both the gate current and drain current may vary exponentially with V_gs. If the SJT is designed in such a way that I_g < I_d, however, the current gain may remain greater than unity in the weak accumulation (i.e. sub-threshold) mode. This may be accomplished, for example, by designing the active layer to have a threshold voltage similar to the turn on voltage of the Schottky gate, which may vary with the materials used but may be on the order of about 0.3V. The gate bias current may then be limited to those values such that 0 < V_gs < V_th ≈ 0.3 V. This method of operation may be compared in some ways to operating a BJT below the turn-on voltage of the base-emitter junction (which is typically 0.7V) but without the disadvantages associated with minority carriers.

[0048] The scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims, rather than by the examples given above. Unless specifically stated herein, no element recited in the specification is essential to the practice of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of producing an output current in a device (200) comprising a source channel terminal (210), a gate terminal (214) and a drain terminal (208) formed on a semiconducting channel (206), wherein said semiconducting channel (206) comprises a depletion region (216) between said source terminal (210) and said drain terminal (208),
whereas that gate terminal (214) is configured to provide an input current flowing from said gate terminal (214) into said semiconducting channel (206) to adjust the size of said depletion region (216), said gate terminal comprising a Schottky barrier formed on said semiconducting channel wherein the method comprises the steps of:

providing a bias voltage (V_gs) to said gate terminal (214) such that said depletion region (216) allows current to flow in said semiconducting channel (206), wherein said bias voltage (V_gs) is less than a threshold voltage (V_th) for said device (200) such that said device (200) operates in a sub-threshold mode; and

controlling a gate current flowing into said channel (206) from said gate terminal (214) to adjust said depletion region (216) and to thereby produce said output current at said drain terminal (208) as a function of said gate current.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said output current varies substantially exponentially with a gate-source voltage in the weak accumulation regime.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2 wherein said input current varies substantially exponentially with a gate-source voltage in said sub-threshold mode.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said device is a MESFET (200).

5. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said gate terminal comprises a Schottky barrier.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said source (210) and drain terminals (208) comprise an ohmic contact.

7. The method of claim 1 or 5 further comprising the step of forming said depletion region (216) such that said depletion region (216) substantially restricts current flowing in said semiconducting channel (206) when no current or voltage is applied to said gate terminal (214).

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said depletion region (216) is configured according to:

wherein W is the width of said depletion region (216), N_D represents a dopant concentration, ε and q are constants, V_bi is a built-in voltage between said gate terminal (214) and said semiconducting channel (206), and V_gs is a voltage applied between said gate terminal (214) and said source terminal (210).

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said forward bias voltage places said device (200) in a weak accumulation regime.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein both said gate current and said output current are primarily produced by majority carriers.

11. A device comprising:

a semiconducting channel (206) coupling a source terminal (210) to a drain terminal (208) and having a depletion region (216) configured to adjust current flowing from said source terminal (210) to said drain terminal (208) via said semiconducting channel (206); and

a gate terminal (214) on said semiconducting channel (206) configured to provide an input current flowing from said gate terminal (214) into said semiconducting channel (206) to adjust the size of said depletion region (216), said gate terminal (214) comprising a Schottky barrier formed on said semiconducting channel,

wherein the output current flowing between said source terminal (210) and said drain terminal (208) is adjusted as a function of said input current when said device operates in a sub-threshold mode,
the device being configured such that the output current varies substantially exponentially with the gate-source voltage for gate-source voltages in the range of 0 < V_gs < 0.3 Volts.

12. The device of claim 11 wherein said input current varies substantially exponentially with the gate-source voltage V_gs in said weak accumulation regime.

13. The device of claim 11 wherein said device is a MESFET (200).

14. The device of claim 11 wherein said source (210) and drain terminals (208) comprise an ohmic contact.

15. The device of claim 11 or 13 wherein said depletion region (216) is formed such that said depletion region (216) substantially restricts current flowing in said semiconducting channel (206) when no current or voltage is applied to said gate terminal (214).

16. The device of claim 14, wherein said depletion region (216) is configured according to:

wherein W is the width of said depletion region (216), N_D represents a dopant concentration, ε and q are constants, V_bi is a built-in voltage between said gate terminal (214) and said semiconducting channel (206), and V_gs is a voltage applied between said gate terminal (214) and said source terminal (210).

17. The device of claim 14 wherein a bias voltage places said device (200) in a weak accumulation regime in said sub-threshold mode.

18. The device of claim 14 wherein both said input current and said output current are primarily produced by majority carriers.

19. The device of claim 13 wherein said input current varies substantially exponentially with the gate-source voltage V_gs in said weak accumulation regime.

Ansprüche

1. Eine Methode zur Erzeugung eines Ausgangsstroms in einer Einheit (200) beinhaltend ein Source-Terminal (210), ein Gate-Terminal (214) und ein Drain-Terminal (208) angeordnet auf einem halbleitenden Kanal (206), wobei besagter halbleitender Kanal (206) eine Verärniungszone (216) zwischen besagtem Source-Terminal (210) und besagtem Drain-Terrriinal (208) umfaßt, während dieses Gate-Terminal (214) so beschaffen ist, einen Eingangsstrom, fließend vom besagten Gate-Terminal (214) in besagten halbleitenden Kanal (206), zur Veränderung der Größe der besagten Verarmungszone (216) bereit zu stellen, besagtes Gate-Terminal eine Schottky-Barriere angeordnet auf besagtem halbleitenden Kanal beinhaltet, wobei das Verfahren die folgenden Schritte umfaßt:

Anlegen einer Vorspannung (V_gs) an besagtem Gate-Terminal (214), so dass besagte Verarmungszone (216) einen Stromfluß in besagtem halbleitenden Kanal (206) erlaubt, wobei besagte Vorspannung (V_gs) für besagte Einheit (200) kleiner ist als eine Schwellwertspannung (V_th), so dass diese besagte Einheit (200) in einem Sub-Threshold-Mode arbeitet, und

Steuern eines Gate-Stroms, fließend von besagtem Gate-Terminal (214) in besagten Kanal (206), zur Veränderung besagter Verarmungszone (216) und dadurcll Erzeugung besagten Ausgangsstroms an besagtem Drain-Terminal (208) als eine Funktion des besagten Gate-Stroms.

2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, bei dem sich der Ausgangsstrom im Bereich schwacher Anreicherung wesentlich exponentiell mit einer Gate-Source-Spannung ändert.

3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1 oder 2, wobei besagter Eingangsstrom sich wesentlich exponentiell mit einer Gate-Source-Spannung im Sub-Threshold-Mode ändert.

4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei besagte Einheit ein MESFET (200) ist.

5. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, 2 oder 3, wobei besagtes Gate-Terminal eine Schottky-Barriere beinhaltet.

6. Verfahren nach Anspruch 4, wobei besagte Source- (210) und Drain-Terminals (208) einen ohmschen Kontakt beinhalten.

7. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1 oder 5, beinhaltend den Schritt die Verarmungszone (216) so zu beschaffen, daß diese Verarmungszone (216) wesentlichen Stromfluß im besagten halbleitenden Kanal (206) verhindert, falls kein Strom oder keine Spannung an besagtem Gate-Terminal (214) anliegt.

8. Verfahren nach Anspruch 7, wobei besagte Verarmungszone (216) folgendermaßen konfiguriert ist:

mit W: Breite der Verarmungszone (216), N_D: Donatorkonzentration, ε und q Konstanten, V_bi: interne Spannung zwischen Gate-Terminal (214) und halbleitendem Kanal (206) sowie V_gs: angelegte Spannung zwischen besagtem Gate-Terminal (214) und besagtem Source-Terminal (210).

9. Verfahren nach Anspruch 7, wobei besagte Vonvärtsspannung besagte Einheit (200) in den Zustand schwacher Anreicherung setzt.

10. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei beide, besagter Gate-Strom und besagter Ausgangsstrom, primär durch Majoritätsladungsträger erzeugt werden.

11. Eine Vorrichtung, welche über einen halbleitenden Kanal (206), der ein Source-Terminal (210) mit einem Drain-Terminal (208) verbindet, sowie über eine Verarmungszone (216), welche so beschaffen ist, daß ein Strom, fließend vom besagten Source-Terminal (210) zu besagtem Drain-Terminal (208) über besagten halbleitenden Kanal (206), verändert werden kann, sowie über
ein Gate-Terminal (214) verfügt, angeordnet auf besagtem halbleitenden Kanal (206), so beschaffen, daß ein Eingangsstrom fließend von besagtem Gate-Terminal (214) in besagten halbleitenden Kanal (206) zur Veränderung der Größe der besagten Verarmungszone (216) verwendet wird, wobei besagtes Gate-Terminal (214) eine Schottky-Barriere, angeordnet auf besagtem halbleitenden Kanal, beinhaltet,
wobei der Ausgangsstrom, fließend zwischen besagtem Source-Terminal (210) und besagtem Drain-Terminal (208), eine Funktion des besagten Eingangsstroms darstellt, falls die Einheit im Sub-Threshold-Mode arbeitet,
die Einheit so konfiguriert ist, daß der Ausgangsstrom sich wesentlich exponentiell mit der Gate-Source-Spannung für Gate-Source-Spannungen im Bereich zwischen 0<V_gs<0,3 Volt ändert.

12. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 11, bei dem sich der Eingangsstrom im Bereich schwacher Anreicherung wesentlich exponentiell mit der Gate-Source-Spannung V_gs ändert.

13. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 11, wobei besagte Einheit ein MESFET (200) ist.

14. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 11, wobei besagte Source- (210) und Drain-Terminals (208) einen ohmschen Kontakt beinhalten.

15. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 11 oder 13, wobei besagte Verarmungszone (216) so bescharfen ist, dass diese Verarmungszone (216) wesentlichen Stromfluß im besagten halbleitenden Kanal (206) verhindert, falls kein Strom oder keine Spannung an besagtem Gate-Terminal (214) anliegt.

16. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 14, wobei besagte Verarmungszone (216) folgendermaßen konfiguriert ist:

mit W: Breite der Verarmungszone (216), No: Donatorkonzentration, ε und q Konstanten, V_bi: interne Spannung zwischen Gate-Terminal (214) und halbleitendem Kanal (206) sowie V_gs: angelegte Spannung zwischen besagtem Gate-Terminal (214) und besagtem Source-Terminal (210).

17. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 14, wobei eine Vorspannung besagte Einheit (200) im Sub-Threshold-Mode in den Zustand schwacher Anreicherung setzt.

18. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 14, wobei beide, besagter Eingangsstrom und besagter Ausgangsstrom, primär durch Majoritätsladungsträger erzeugt werden.

19. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 13, bei dem sich der Eingangsstrom im Bereich schwacher Anreicherung wesentlich exponentiell mit der Gate-Source-Spannung V_gs ändert.

Revendications

1. Procédé pour produire un courant de sortie dans un dispositif (200) comprenant une borne de source (210), une borne de gâchette (214) et une borne de drain (208) formées sur un canal semiconducteur (206), le canal semiconducteur (206) comprenant une région d'appauvrissement (216) entre la borne de source (210) et la borne de drain (208), tandis que cette borne de gâchette (214) est configurée pour donner un courant d'entrée qui s'écoule de la borne de gâchette (219) au canal semiconducteur (206) pour ajuster la grandeur de la région d'appauvrissement (216), la borne de gâchette comprenant une barrière de Schottky formée sur le canal semiconducteur, le procédé comprenant les étapes de :

fourniture d'une tension de polarisation (V_gs) à la borne de gâchette (214) telle que la région d'appauvrissement (216) permet au courant de s'écouler dans le canal semiconducteur (206), dans lequel la tension de polarisation (V_gs) est inférieure à une tension de seuil (V_th) pour le dipositif (200) de telle manière que le dispositif (200) fonctionne dans un mode au-dessous du seuil et de

commande d'un courant de gâchette qui s'écoule dans le canal (206) de la borne de gâchette (214) pour ajuster la région d'appauvrissement (216) et pour ainsi produire le courant de sortie à la borne de drain (208) comme une fonction du courant de gâchette.

2. Procédé selon la revendication 1 dans lequel le courant de sortie varie de manière essentiellement exponentielle avec une tension de gâchette-source en régime de faible accumulation.

3. Procédé selon la revendication 1 ou 2 dans lequel le courant d'entrée varie de manière essentiellement exponentielle avec une tension de gâchette-source dans le mode au-dessous du seuil.

4. Procédé selon la revendication 1 dans lequel le dispositif est un MESFET (transistor à effet de champ à semiconducteur en métal) (200).

5. Procédé selon la revendication 1, 2 ou 3 dans lequel la borne de gâchette comprend une barrière de Schottky.

6. Procédé selon la revendication 4 dans lequel les bornes de source (210) et de drain (208) comprennent un contact ohmique.

7. Procédé selon la revendication 1 ou 5 comprenant de plus l'étape de formation de la région d'appauvrissement (216) de telle manière que la région d'appauvrissement (216) restreint de manière essentielle le courant qui s'écoule dans le canal semiconducteur (206) lorsqu'aucun courant ou aucune tension n'est appliquée à la borne de gâchette (214).

8. Procédé selon la revendication 7 dans lequel la région d'appauvrissement (216) est configurée selon

dans laquelle W est la largeur de la région d'appauvrissement (216), N_D représente une concentration de dopage, ε et q sont des constantes, V_bi est une tension intégrée entre la borne de gâchette (214) et le canal semiconducteur (206) et V_gs est une tension appliquée entre la borne de gâchette (214) et la borne de source (210).

9. Procédé selon la revendication 7 dans lequel la tension polarisée en sens direct met le dispositif (200) en régime de faible accumulation.

10. Procédé selon la revendication 1 dans lequel à la fois le courant de gâchette et le courant de sortie sont produits de manière primaire par des porteurs majoritaires.

11. Dispositif comprenant :

un canal semiconducteur (206) couplant une borne de source (210) à une borne de drain (208) et ayant une région d'appauvrissement (216) configurée pour ajuster le courant qui s'écoule de la borne de source (210) à la borne de drain (208) par le canal semiconducteur (206) et

une borne de gâchette (214) sur le canal semiconducteur (206) configuré pour fournir un courant d'entrée qui s'écoule de la borne de gâchette (214) au canal semiconducteur (206) pour ajuster la grandeur de la région d'appauvrissement (216), la borne de gâchette (214) comprenant une barrière de Schottky formée sur le canal semiconducteur,

dans lequel le courant de sortie qui s'écoule entre la borne de source (210) et la borne de drain (208) est ajusté comme une fonction du courant d'entrée lorsque le dispositif fonctionne dans un mode au-dessous du seuil,
le dispositif étant configuré tel que le courant de sortie varie de manière substantiellement exponentielle avec la tension gâchette-source pour des tensions de gâchette-source de l'ordre de 0 < Vgs < 0,3 Volt.

12. Dispositif selon la revendication 11 dans lequel le courant d'entrée varie de manière substantiellement exponentielle avec la tension de gâchette-source V_gs en régime de faible accumulation.

13. Dispositif selon la revendication 11 dans lequel le dispositif est un MESFET (transistor à effet de champ à semiconducteur en métal) (200).

14. Dispositif selon la revendication 11 dans lequel les bornes de source (210) et de drain (208) comprennent un contact ohmique.

15. Dispositif selon la revendication 11 ou 13 dans lequel la région d'appauvrissement (216) est formée telle que la région d'appauvrissement (216) restreint substantiellement le courant qui s'écoule dans le canal semiconducteur (206) lorsqu'aucun courant ou aucune tension n'est appliquée à la borne de gâchette (214).

16. Dispositif selon la revendication 14 dans lequel la région d'appauvrissement (216) est configurée selon :

dans laquelle W est la largeur de la région d'appauvrissement (216), N_D représente une concentration de dopage, ε et q sont des constantes, V_bi est une tension intégrée entre la borne de gâchette (214) et le canal semiconducteur (206) et V_gs est une tension appliquée entre la borne de gâchette (214) et la borne de source (210).

17. Dispositif selon la revendication 14 dans lequel une tension de polarisation place le dispositif en régime de faible accumulation dans le mode au-dessous du seuil.

18. Dispositif selon la revendication 14 dans lequel à la fois le courant d'entrée et le courant de sortie sont produits de manière primaire par des porteurs majoritaires.

19. Dispositif selon la revendication 13 dans lequel le courant d'entrée varie de manière essentiellement exponentielle avec la tension de gâchette-source V_gs en régime de faible accumulation.

Drawing