Subthermionic field-effect transistors with sub-5 nm gate lengths based on van der Waals ferroelectric heterostructures

Feng Wang; Jia Liu; Wenhao Huang; Ruiqing Cheng; Lei Yin; Junjun Wang; Marshet Getaye Sendeku; Yu Zhang; Xueying Zhan; Chongxin Shan; Zhenxing Wang; Jun He

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2020.04.019

Subthermionic field-effect transistors with sub-5 nm gate lengths based on van der Waals ferroelectric heterostructures

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2020 Sep 15;65(17):1444-1450. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2020.04.019. Epub 2020 Apr 13.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China; School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ Henan Key Laboratory of Diamond Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Key Laboratory of Material Physics (Ministry of Education), School of Physics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China.
⁴ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: wangzx@nanoctr.cn.
⁵ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China; School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: hej@nanoctr.cn.

PMID: 36747401
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2020.04.019

Abstract

Overcoming the sub-5 nm gate length limit and decreasing the power dissipation are two main objects in the electronics research field. Besides advanced engineering techniques, considering new material systems may be helpful. Here, we demonstrate two-dimensional (2D) subthermionic field-effect transistors (FETs) with sub-5 nm gate lengths based on ferroelectric (FE) van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs). The FE vdWHs are composed of graphene, MoS₂, and CuInP₂S₆ acting as 2D contacts, channels, and ferroelectric dielectric layers, respectively. We first show that the as-fabricated long-channel device exhibits nearly hysteresis-free subthermionic switching over three orders of magnitude of drain current at room temperature. Further, we fabricate short-channel subthermionic FETs using metallic carbon nanotubes as effective gate terminals. A typical device shows subthermionic switching over five-to-six orders of magnitude of drain current with a minimum subthreshold swing of 6.1 mV/dec at room temperature. Our results indicate that 2D materials system is promising for advanced highly-integrated energy-efficient electronic devices.

Keywords: Ferroelectric two-dimensional materials; Short-channel field-effect transistor; Subthermionic field-effect transistor; van der Waals heterostructure.