Epitaxial GeSn/Ge Vertical Nanowires for p-Type Field-Effect Transistors with Enhanced Performance

Harvesting the full potential of single-crystal semiconductor nanowires (NWs) for advanced nanoscale field-effect transistors (FETs) requires a smart combination of charge control architecture and functional semiconductors. In this article, high-performance vertical gate-all-around NW p-type FETs (p-FETs) are presented. The device concept is based on advanced Ge0.92Sn0.08/Ge group IV epitaxial heterostructures, employing quasi–one-dimensional semiconductor NWs fabricated with a top-down approach. The advantage of using a heterostructure is the possibility of electronic band engineering with band offsets tunable by changing the semiconductor stoichiometry and elastic strain. The use of a Ge0.92Sn0.08 layer as the source in GeSn/Ge NW p-FETs results in a small subthreshold slope of 72 mV/dec and a high ION/IOFF ratio of 3 × 106. A ∼32% drive current enhancement is obtained compared to the vertical Ge homojunction NW control devices. More interestingly, the drain-induced barrier lowering is much smaller with GeSn instead of Ge as the source. The general improvement of the transistor’s key figures of merits originates from the valence band offset at the Ge0.92Sn0.08/Ge heterojunction, as well as from a smaller NiGeSn/GeSn contact resistivity.