A proposed confinement modulated gap nanowire transistor based on a metal (Tin)

Lida Ansari, Giorgos Fagas, Jean Pierre Colinge, James C. Greer

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

45 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Energy bandgaps are observed to increase with decreasing diameter due to quantum confinement in quasi-one-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures or nanowires. A similar effect is observed in semimetal nanowires for sufficiently small wire diameters: A bandgap is induced, and the semimetal nanowire becomes a semiconductor. We demonstrate that on the length scale on which the semimetal-semiconductor transition occurs, this enables the use of bandgap engineering to form a field-effect transistor near atomic dimensions and eliminates the need for doping in the transistor's source, channel, or drain. By removing the requirement to supply free carriers by introducing dopant impurities, quantum confinement allows for a materials engineering to overcome the primary obstacle to fabricating sub-5 nm transistors, enabling aggressive scaling to near atomic limits.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2222-2227
Number of pages6
JournalNano Letters
Volume12
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 May 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Ab initio calculations
  • electron transport
  • electronic structure
  • gray tin
  • nanowire transistor
  • quantum confinement

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Bioengineering
  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanical Engineering

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