Sub-10 nm diameter InGaAs vertical nanowire MOSFETs

Abstract

We present the first sub-10 nm diameter vertical nanowire transistors of any kind in any semiconductor system. These devices are InGaAs MOSFETs fabricated by a top-down approach using reactive ion etching, alcohol-based digital etch and Ni alloyed contacts. A record I on of 350 μA/μm at I off = 100 nA/μm and V dd = 0.5 V is obtained in a 7 nm diameter device. The same device exhibits a peak transconductance (g m, pk ) of 1.7 mS/μm and minimal subthreshold swing (S) of 90 mV/dec at V ds = 0.5 V, achieving the highest quality factor (defined as the ratio g m, pk /S) of 19 reported in vertical nanowire transistors. Excellent scaling behavior is observed with g m, pk and I on increasing as the diameter is shrunk down to 7 nm.