Anomalously Beneficial Gate-Length Scaling Trend of Negative Capacitance Transistors

Abstract

The Negative Capacitance Field Effect Transistors exhibit excellent SS and DIBL improvements from the control MOSFET devices at very short gate lengths, a phenomenon which cannot be explained using conventional MOSFET theory. This benefit arises from an effect which acts similarly to decreasing the equivalent-oxide thickness at short gate lengths. The effect is observed in both TCAD simulations and experiments, and is explained by the conjunction of the source/drain inner fringing field and the nonlinear polarizability of ferroelectric materials. The results present a sharp contrast to conventional scaling theory and bode well for extending the MOSFET gate length scaling limit.