arXiv subjects

Gerhard Klimeck

Publications and source records attributed to Gerhard Klimeck.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Dramatic Impact of Dimensionality on the Electrostatics of PN Junctions

Low dimensional material systems provide a unique set of properties useful for solid-state devices. The building block of these devices is the PN junction. In this work, we present a dramatic difference in the electrostatics of PN junctions in lower dimensional systems, as against the well understood three dimensional systems. Reducing the dimensionality increases the depletion width significantly. We propose a novel method to derive analytic equations in 2D and 1D that considers the impact of neutral regions. The analytical results show an excellent match with both the experimental measurements and numerical simulations. The square root dependence of the depletion width on the ratio of dielectric constant and doping in 3D changes to a linear and exponential dependence for 2D and 1D respectively. This higher sensitivity of 1D PN junctions to its control parameters can be used towards new sensors.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

A Multiscale Modeling of Triple-Heterojunction Tunneling FETs

A high performance triple-heterojunction (3HJ) design has been previously proposed for tunneling FETs (TFETs). Compared with single heterojunction (HJ) TFETs, the 3HJ TFETs have both shorter tunneling distance and two transmission resonances that significantly improve the ON-state current ($I_{\rm{ON}}$). Coherent quantum transport simulation predicts, that $I_{\rm{ON}}=460\rm{μA/μm}$ can be achieved at gate length $Lg=15\rm{nm}$, supply voltage $V_{\rm{DD}}=0.3\rm{V}$, and OFF-state current $I_{\rm{OFF}}=1\rm{nA/μm}$. However, strong electron-phonon and electron-electron scattering in the heavily doped leads implies, that the 3HJ devices operate far from the ideal coherent limit. In this study, such scattering effects are assessed by a newly developed multiscale transport model, which combines the ballistic non-equilibrium Green's function method for the channel and the drift-diffusion scattering method for the leads. Simulation results show that the thermalizing scattering in the leads both degrades the 3HJ TFET's subthreshold swing through scattering induced leakage and reduces the turn-on current through the access resistance. Assuming bulk scattering rates and carrier mobilities, the $I_{\rm{ON}}$ is dropped from $460\rm{μA/μm}$ down to $254\rm{μA/μm}$, which is still much larger than the single HJ TFET case.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

All-electrical control of donor-bound electron spin qubits in silicon

We propose a method to electrically control electron spins in donor-based qubits in silicon. By taking advantage of the hyperfine coupling difference between a single-donor and a two-donor quantum dot, spin rotation can be driven by inducing an electric dipole between them and applying an alternating electric field generated by in-plane gates. These qubits can be coupled with exchange interaction controlled by top detuning gates. The qubit device can be fabricated deep in the silicon lattice with atomic precision by scanning tunneling probe technique. We have combined a large-scale full band atomistic tight-binding modeling approach with a time-dependent effective Hamiltonian description, providing a design with quantitative guidelines.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Two-electron states of a group V donor in silicon from atomistic full configuration interaction

Two-electron states bound to donors in silicon are important for both two qubit gates and spin readout. We present a full configuration interaction technique in the atomistic tight-binding basis to capture multi-electron exchange and correlation effects taking into account the full bandstructure of silicon and the atomic scale granularity of a nanoscale device. Excited $s$-like states of $A_1$-symmetry are found to strongly influence the charging energy of a negative donor centre. We apply the technique on sub-surface dopants subjected to gate electric fields, and show that bound triplet states appear in the spectrum as a result of decreased charging energy. The exchange energy, obtained for the two-electron states in various confinement regimes, may enable engineering electrical control of spins in donor-dot hybrid qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Silicon quantum processor with robust long-distance qubit couplings

Practical quantum computers require the construction of a large network of highly coherent qubits, interconnected in a design robust against errors. Donor spins in silicon provide state-of-the-art coherence and quantum gate fidelities, in a physical platform adapted from industrial semiconductor processing. Here we present a scalable design for a silicon quantum processor that does not require precise donor placement and allows hundreds of nanometers inter-qubit distances, therefore facilitating fabrication using current technology. All qubit operations are performed via electrical means on the electron-nuclear spin states of a phosphorus donor. Single-qubit gates use low power electric drive at microwave frequencies, while fast two-qubit gates exploit electric dipole-dipole interactions. Microwave resonators allow for millimeter-distance entanglement and interfacing with photonic links. Sweet spots protect the qubits from charge noise up to second order, implying that all operations can be performed with error rates below quantum error correction thresholds, even without any active noise cancellation technique.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Combination of equilibrium and non-equilibrium carrier statistics into an atomistic quantum transport model for tunneling hetero-junctions

Tunneling hetero-junctions (THJs) usually induce confined states at the regions close to the tunnel junction which significantly affect their transport properties. Accurate numerical modeling of such effects requires combining the non-equilibrium coherent quantum transport through tunnel junction, as well as the quasi-equilibrium statistics arising from the strong scattering in the induced quantum wells. In this work, a novel atomistic model is proposed to include both effects: the strong scattering in the regions around THJ and the coherent tunneling. The new model matches reasonably well with experimental measurements of Nitride THJ and provides an efficient engineering tool for performance prediction and design of THJ based devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Impact of Dimensionality on PN Junctions

Low dimensional material systems provide a unique set of properties useful for solid-state devices. The building block of these devices is the PN junction. In this work, we present a dramatic difference in the electrostatics of PN junctions in lower dimensional systems, as against the well understood three dimensional systems. Reducing the dimensionality increases the fringing fields and depletion width significantly. We propose a novel method to derive analytic equations in 2D and 1D that considers the impact of neutral regions. The analytical results show an excellent match with both the experimental measurements and numerical simulations. The square root dependence of the depletion width on the ratio of dielectric constant and doping in 3D changes to a linear and exponential dependence for 2D and 1D respectively. This higher sensitivity of 1D PN junctions to its control parameters can be used towards new sensors.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Performance degradation of superlattice MOSFETs due to scattering in the contacts

Ideal, completely coherent quantum transport calculations had predicted that superlattice MOSFETs may offer steep subthreshold swing performance below 60mV/dec to around 39mV/dec. However, the high carrier density in the superlattice source suggest that scattering may significantly degrade the ideal device performance. Such effects of electron scattering and decoherence in the contacts of superlattice MOSFETs are examined through a multiscale quantum transport model developed in NEMO5. This model couples NEGF-based quantum ballistic transport in the channel to a quantum mechanical density of states dominated reservoir, which is thermalized through strong scattering with local quasi-Fermi levels determined by drift-diffusion transport. The simulations show that scattering increases the electron transmission in the nominally forbidden minigap therefore degrading the subthreshold swing (S.S.) and the ON/OFF DC current ratio. This degradation varies with both the scattering rate and the length of the scattering dominated regions. Different superlattice MOSFET designs are explored to mitigate the effects of such deleterious scattering. Specifically, shortening the spacer region between the superlattice and the channel from 3.5 nm to 0 nm improves the simulated S.S. from 51mV/dec. to 40mV/dec. I. INTRODUCTION

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Transport in vertically stacked hetero-structures from 2D materials

In this work, the transport of tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) based on vertically stacked hereto-structures from 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials is investigated by atomistic quantum transport simulations. WTe2-MoS2 combination was chosen due to the formation of a broken gap hetero-junction which is desirable for TFETs. There are two assumptions behind the MoS2-WTe2 hetero-junction tight binding (TB) model: 1) lattice registry. 2) The $S-Te$ parameters being the average of the $S-S$ and $Te-Te$ parameters of bilayer MoS2 and WTe2. The computed TB bandstructure of the hetero-junction agrees well with the bandstructure obtained from density functional theory (DFT) in the energy range of interest for transport. NEGF (Non-Equilibrium Green$'$s Function) equations within the tight binding description is then utilized for device transfer characteristic calculation. Results show 1) energy filtering is the switching mechanism; 2) the length of the extension region is critical for device to turn off; 3) MoS2-WTe2 interlayer TFET can achieve a large on-current of $1000 μA/μm$ with $V_{DD} = 0.3V$, which suggests interlayer TFET can solve the low ON current problem of TFETs and can be a promising candidate for low power applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Scalable GaSb/InAs tunnel FETs with non-uniform body thickness

GaSb/InAs heterojunction tunnel field-effect transistors are strong candidates in building future low-power integrated circuits, as they could provide both steep subthreshold swing and large ON-state current ($I_{\rm{ON}}$). However, at short channel lengths they suffer from large tunneling leakage originating from the small band gap and small effective masses of the InAs channel. As proposed in this article, this problem can be significantly mitigated by reducing the channel thickness meanwhile retaining a thick source-channel tunnel junction, thus forming a design with a non-uniform body thickness. Because of the quantum confinement, the thin InAs channel offers a large band gap and large effective masses, reducing the ambipolar and source-to-drain tunneling leakage at OFF state. The thick GaSb/InAs tunnel junction, instead, offers a low tunnel barrier and small effective masses, allowing a large tunnel probability at ON state. In addition, the confinement induced band discontinuity enhances the tunnel electric field and creates a resonant state, further improving $I_{\rm{ON}}$. Atomistic quantum transport simulations show that ballistic $I_{\rm{ON}}=284$A/m is obtained at 15nm channel length, $I_{\rm{OFF}}=1\times10^{-3}$A/m, and $V_{\rm{DD}}=0.3$V. While with uniform body thickness, the largest achievable $I_{\rm{ON}}$ is only 25A/m. Simulations also indicate that this design is scalable to sub-10nm channel length.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Thickness Engineered Tunnel Field-Effect Transistors based on Phosphorene

Thickness engineered tunneling field-effect transistors (TE-TFET) as a high performance ultra-scaled steep transistor is proposed. This device exploits a specific property of 2D materials: layer thickness dependent energy bandgap (Eg). Unlike the conventional hetero-junction TFETs, TE-TFET uses spatially varying layer thickness to form a hetero-junction. This offers advantages by avoiding the interface states and lattice mismatch problems. Furthermore, it boosts the ON-current to 1280$μA/μm$ for 15nm channel length. TE-TFET shows a channel length scalability down to 9nm with constant field scaling $E = V_{DD}/L_{ch}= 30V/nm$. Providing a higher ON current, phosphorene TE-TFET outperforms the homojunction phosphorene TFET and the TMD TFET in terms of extrinsic energy-delay product. In this work, the operation principles of TE-TFET and its performance sensitivity to the design parameters are investigated by the means of full-band atomistic quantum transport simulation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Characterizing Si:P quantum dot qubits with spin resonance techniques

Quantum dots patterned by atomically precise placement of phosphorus donors in single crystal silicon have long spin lifetimes, advantages in addressability, large exchange tunability, and are readily available few-electron systems. To be utilized as quantum bits, it is important to non-invasively characterise these donor quantum dots post fabrication and extract the number of bound electron and nuclear spins as well as their locations. Here, we propose a metrology technique based on electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements with the on-chip circuitry already needed for qubit manipulation to obtain atomic scale information about donor quantum dots and their spin configurations. Using atomistic tight-binding technique and Hartree self-consistent field approximation, we show that the ESR transition frequencies are directly related to the number of donors, electrons, and their locations through the electron-nuclear hyperfine interaction.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Transferable tight binding model for strained group IV and III-V materials and heterostructures

It is critical to capture the effect due to strain and material interface for device level transistor modeling. We introduced a transferable sp3d5s* tight binding model with nearest neighbor interactions for arbitrarily strained group IV and III-V materials. The tight binding model is parameterized with respect to Hybrid functional(HSE06) calculations for varieties of strained systems. The tight binding calculations of ultra small superlattices formed by group IV and group III-V materials show good agreement with the corresponding HSE06 calculations. The application of tight binding model to superlattices demonstrates that transferable tight binding model with nearest neighbor interactions can be obtained for group IV and III-V materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

P-Type Tunnel FETs With Triple Heterojunctions

A triple-heterojunction (3HJ) design is employed to improve p-type InAs/GaSb heterojunction (HJ) tunnel FETs. The added two HJs (AlInAsSb/InAs in the source and GaSb/AlSb in the channel) significantly shorten the tunnel distance and create two resonant states, greatly improving the ON state tunneling probability. Moreover, the source Fermi degeneracy is reduced by the increased source (AlInAsSb) density of states and the OFF state leakage is reduced by the heavier channel (AlSb) hole effective masses. Quantum ballistic transport simulations show, that with V_{DD} = 0.3V and I_{OFF} = 10^{-3}A/m, I_{ON} of 582A=m (488A=m) is obtained at 30nm (15nm) channel length, which is comparable to n-type 3HJ counterpart and significantly exceeding p-type silicon MOSFET. Simultaneously, the nonlinear turn on and delayed saturation in the output characteristics are also greatly improved.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Saving Moore's Law Down To 1nm Channels With Anisotropic Effective Mass

Scaling transistors' dimensions has been the thrust for the semiconductor industry in the last 4 decades. However, scaling channel lengths beyond 10 nm has become exceptionally challenging due to the direct tunneling between source and drain which degrades gate control, switching functionality, and worsens power dissipation. Fortunately, the emergence of novel classes of materials with exotic properties in recent times has opened up new avenues in device design. Here, we show that by using channel materials with an anisotropic effective mass, the channel can be scaled down to 1nm and still provide an excellent switching performance in both MOSFETs and TFETs. In the case of TFETs, a novel design has been proposed to take advantage of anisotropic mass in both ON- and OFF-state of the TFETs. Full-band atomistic quantum transport simulations of phosphorene nanoribbon MOSFETs and TFETs based on the new design have been performed as a proof.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

In-surface confinement of topological insulator nanowire surface states

The bandstructures of [110] and [001] Bi2Te3 nanowires are solved with the atomistic 20 band tight binding functionality of NEMO5. The theoretical results reveal: The popular assumption that all topological insulator wire surfaces are equivalent is inappropriate. The Fermi velocity of chemically distinct wire surfaces differs significantly which creates an effective in-surface confinement potential. As a result, topological insulator surface states prefer specific surfaces. Therefore, experiments have to be designed carefully not to probe surfaces unfavorable to the surface states (low density of states) and thereby be insensitive to the TI-effects.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Configurable Electrostatically Doped High Performance Bilayer Graphene Tunnel FET

A bilayer graphene based electrostatically doped tunnel field-effect transistor (BED-TFET) is proposed in this work. Unlike graphene nanoribbon TFETs in which the edge states deteriorate the OFF-state performance, BED-TFETs operate based on different bandgaps induced by vertical electric fields in the source, channel, and drain regions without any chemical doping. The performance of the transistor is evaluated by self-consistent quantum transport simulations. This device has several advantages: 1) ultra-low power (VDD=0.1V), 2) high performance (ION/IOFF>104), 3) steep subthreshold swing (SS<10mv/dec), and 4) electrically configurable between N-TFET and P-TFET post fabrication. Here, the operation principle of the BED-TFET and its performance sensitivity to the device design parameters are studied.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

High-Performance Complementary III-V Tunnel FETs with Strain Engineering

Strain engineering has recently been explored to improve tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs). Here, we report design and performance of strained ultra-thin-body (UTB) III-V TFETs by quantum transport simulations. It is found that for an InAs UTB confined in [001] orientation, uniaxial compressive strain in [100] or [110] orientation shrinks the band gap meanwhile reduces (increases) transport (transverse) effective masses. Thus it improves the ON state current of both n-type and p-type UTB InAs TFETs without lowering the source density of states. Applying the strain locally in the source region makes further improvements by suppressing the OFF state leakage. For p-type TFETs, the locally strained area can be extended into the channel to form a quantum well, giving rise to even larger ON state current that is comparable to the n-type ones. Therefore strain engineering is a promising option for improving complementary circuits based on UTB III-V TFETs.

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