Quantization of Charge Carriers in Conduction Channels for Multinary Field-Effect Transistors

P. Xu, H. Luo

Published 2024-01-26Version 1

The latest field-effect transistors are entering the regime where quantum effects within the conduction channel can play a significant role because of the increasingly reduced dimensions. We investigate the effects of quantized states in conduction channels in transistors. We use the standard configuration of Si-based metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), as a simplified model to provide an estimate of the effect of quantization with respect to the dimensions of the conduction channel. The study shows the simulated results of drain currents for various combinations of dimensions, in which distinguishable current levels as a function of the applied gate bias can be obtained at room temperature, and can be exploited for multinary transistors. The same qualitative dependence on dimensions is expected to apply to state-of-the-art transistor architectures with dimensions near this range, such as fin field-effect transistors (FinFETs) and gate-all-around field-effect transistors (GAAFETs).