Three-Terminal Nanoelectromechanical Field Effect Transistor with Abrupt Subthreshold Slope

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 1687 - 1691
• Main Authors: Kim, Ji-Hun, Chen, Zack C.Y, Kwon, Soonshin, Xiang, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 12.03.2014
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Devices; Drains; Electrodes; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Field effect transistors; Materials science; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanostructure; Physics; Quantum wires; Semiconductor devices; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Slopes; Transistors; Voltage; Nanoelectromechanical systems; semiconductor nanowires; steep subthreshold slope device; mechanical switch; Field effect transistor; Drain current; Numerical simulation; Nanowires; Radiofrequency; Nanostructured materials; Switching; Gates
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl5006355

We report the first experimental demonstration of a three-terminal nanoelectromechanical field effect transistor (NEMFET) with measurable subthreshold slope as small as 6 mV/dec at room temperature and a switching voltage window of under 2 V. The device operates by modulating drain current through a suspended nanowire channel via an insulated gate electrode, thus eliminating the need for a conducting moving electrode, and yields devices that reliably switch on/off for up to 130 cycles. Radio-frequency measurements have confirmed operation at 125 MHz. Our measurements and simulations suggest that the NEMFET design is scalable toward sub-1 V ultrahigh-frequency operation for future low-power computing systems.