Investigation of Different Strain Configurations in Gate-All-Around Silicon Nanowire Transistor

The impacts of three different strain configurations on both DC and RF performance of n-type silicon nanowire transistors (n-SNWTs) are investigated. It is found that the longitudinal tensile strain is the most efficient in improving the driving current and RF performance of n-SNWTs under the same stress value. In addition, the transverse compressive strain is also beneficial to the performance improvement, and can be combined in the stress engineering. Particularly, transverse biaxial compressive strain can effectively enhance the driving current, and at the same time slightly decrease the off-current of n-SNWT, which is beneficial for high speed and low power design. The results indicate that, due to the unique feature of gate-all-around 1D structure, the strain design in SNWTs, especially the combination of longitudinal strain and transverse strain, can be specially optimized for better device performance.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000313327800003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701ElectrochemistryEngineering, Electrical & ElectronicEICPCI-S(ISTP)