EE5502 MOS Devices CA

Small-Signal Analysis of Silicon Nanowire

Transistors based on a
Poisson/Schrodinger/Boltzmann Solver [1]
a

- Reddy Devarajan Srinivasan (A0165006N)

- Vinay Panduranga Gudisagar (A0164992N)
Introduction
Wire like structure made of Silicon with diameter or lateral dimension of nanometer (10-9m).
The current from the source to the drain is turned on and off by the voltage applied to the gate like
a conventional transistor.
Gate Gate
Drain Insulator

Source
W HAT
HY
Channel

Insulator
Channel
With the under 10nm technology generation being under intensive development, the change in
geometry of transistors from fin to wire is expected to further enable device scaling due to better
short-channel control as well as high current density.
Because the gate in nanowires is surrounding the channel, it can control the electrostatics of the
channel more efficiently than the conventional MOSFET. 2
SiNW vs Bulk-Si Transistor
With multi-gate structures around the channel (nano-wire), we get the best control with gate
voltage (VG).
Improved control over VG directly improves the critical parameters like Subthreshold Slope (SS)
and Drain Induced Barrier Lowering (DIBL) to suppress Short Channel Effect (SCE) in ultra-
short channels.

TYPE Above Threshold Sub-Threshold

Surface Conduction Surface conduction
Bulk-Si
High E field Low E field
Bulk Conduction Bulk Conduction
SiNW
Low E field High E field

Vth depends on doping, width and thickness of nanowire. Measured ID(VG) of an n-channel device with Weff=25nm and L=1m

SiNW can exhibit low leakage currents and excellent short channel behavior .
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Steady State Analysis
The Poisson equation is solved for the electrostatic potential in the 3D real space. The finite volume
method is used to ensure flux conservation in the discretization process.
The 1D Boltzmann transport equation is discretized using H-transformation[2],[3] which removes
the derivative with respect to kz and aligns the energy grid with the trajectories of ballistic carriers.
In order to treat strong quantization effects, the time-independent Schrodinger Equation (SE) is
numerically solved in x-y slices perpendicular to the transport direction using the FEAST[4]
eigensolver package.

The coupled Boltzmann, Poisson, and Schrodinger equations are solved by the Newton-Raphson
scheme, with the unknown variables being the electrostatic potential (r) and the distribution
function f (z, H).
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Small Signal Analysis
Small-signal analysis requires linearization of the system of equations around the stationary values.
Only additional coefficients required for small signal analysis is from the time-derivative terms of
the Boltzmann Equation (BE).
Since the small-signal computations are often performed for many frequencies, the steady-state
solutions and the corresponding Jacobian matrix are saved after the convergence of Newton
Raphson system and reused at each frequency value. Hence, the time-consuming evaluation of the
Jacobian matrix is avoided.
While moving from the continuous BE to the discretized one might lead to unexpected problems
with the reciprocity and passivity of the small-signal parameters in equilibrium conditions.
Factorization[5] of the distribution function into its equilibrium and non-equilibrium parts, and
making sure that we have a consistent formulation of BE and PE in small-signal sense, restores the
necessary symmetries.
The small-signal terminal currents are calculated using a formulation of the Ramo-Shockley
theorem[6] that is consistent with the simulation framework, i.e. one-dimensional BE along the
transport direction and two-dimensional SE in the transverse planes.
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Advantages
As compared to the usual approach to self-consistently solve the coupled system of Poisson,
Schrodinger, and Boltzmann equations in Gummel-type iterations[7],[8], semi-classical simulators
based on Boltzmanns equation is used.
Deterministic nature of simulators based on Boltzmanns equation allows us to easily simulate rare
events, deep-subthreshold operating points, and events on completely different time scales which is
an important feature that stochastic Monte Carlo simulators lack.
Multi-subband deterministic framework pre-developed for quadratically converging stable Full
Newton-Raphson (FNR)[9] nanowire transistor solver of the combined system of Poisson,
Schrodinger and Boltzmann equations is used.
The main advantage of such FNR approach is evident when we notice how such formulation can
pave the way towards exact small-signal analysis, i.e. once an FNR solver is available for the
stationary problem, our system of equations is already linearized and the same derivatives can be
used in investigation of small AC perturbations covering the full frequency range.

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Results
Doping Concentration
Source Drain ND= 2 X 1019 cm-3
Channel region ND = 1 X 1017 cm-3
Assumption Lch = LG
SE is solved limiting up to 5 sub-bands in the Boltzmann equation

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Results
Admittance Vs Frequency at Equilibrium VDS = 0V & VGS = 0.5V
Similar to Pao-Sah model for MOSFET, it was observed the reciprocity holds good in
equilibrium (Y12 = Y21)
Small-signal current gain.

8
Results
Cut-Off frequencies shows discontinuities for different gate lengths.
So stability factor is defined as Roller Factor,
Stable at frequencies in which K > 1.

9
Conclusion
Nanowire solver suitable for steady state analysis and small-signal analysis.
Robust and stable computations in the complete frequency range.
Small-signal parameters show reciprocity and passivity in equilibrium conditions similar to
Pao-Sah and charge sheet model for MOSFET
Discontinuities observed when changing any quantity that influence the steady-state which
was consequences of transforming BE into total energy
These can be reduced by refining energy grid.
Presented solver of nanowire devices for RF and High Frequency applications.

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Conclusion

11
References
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Poisson/Schrodinger/Boltzmann Solver, 2017 International Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices.
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[3] S.-M. Hong, A. T. Pham, and C. Jungemann, Deterministic solvers for the Boltzmann transport equation. Computational
Microelectronics, Wien, New York: Springer, 2011.
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[5] D. Ruic and C. Jungemann, Numerical aspects of noise simulation in MOSFETs by a Langevin-Boltzmann solver, Journal of
Computational Electronics, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 2136, 2015.
[6] H. Kim, H. S. Min, T. W. Tang, and Y. J. Park, An extended proof of the Ramo-Shockley theorem, SolidState Electron., vol. 34,
pp. 12511253, 1991.
[7] S. Jin, M. V. Fischetti, and T. w. Tang, Theoretical study of carrier transport in silicon nanowire transistors based on the
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[8] S. Scaldaferri, G. Curatola, and G. Iannaccone, Direct solution of the boltzmann transport equation and poisson/schrodinger
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[9] M. Noei and C. Jungemann, Numerical investigation of junctionless nanowire transistors using a boltzmann/schrdinger/poisson
full newton- raphson solver, Proc. SISPAD, 2016.
[10] Junctionless Nanowire Transistor (JNT): Properties and Design Guidelines. A. Kranti, R. Yan, C.-W. Lee, I. Ferain, R. Yu, N.
Dehdashti Akhavan, P. Razavi, JP Colinge. Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland 12