In recent years, tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) have attracted a great deal of attention for future nanoelectronics devices. The reason for the interest is that TFETs potentially enable a significant reduction of the power consumption of highly integrated circuits. However, to date most of the experimental demonstrations of TFETs exhibit a performance inferior to conventional MOSFETs. Here, the operating principles of TFETs will be discussed in detail and experimental realizations as well as simulation results will be presented. In particular, the role of the injecting source contact will be elaborated on.

Joachim Knoch studied physics at RWTH Aachen University, Germany and Queen Mary, University of London, UK and received the Diploma (MSc) and PhD degrees in physics from RWTH Aachen University, Germany in 1998 and 2001. After postdoctoral research on InP HEMTs at the Microsystems Technology Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the Research Center Jülich in Germany in 2003 as a Research Scientist, where he investigated electronic transport in alternative field-effect transistors such as carbon nanotube FETs, ultrathin-body Schottky-barrier devices and band-to-band tunnel FETs. In 2006 he accepted a position as permanent research staff member at IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Switzerland, working on nanowire transistors with an emphasis on tunnel FETs. In 2008 he was appointed associate professor of electrical engineering at TU Dortmund University, Germany and since 2011 he has been full professor and head of the Institute of Semiconductor Electronics at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. His current research interests include nanoelectronics devices based on silicon and III-V nanostructures, carbon nanotubes and graphene as well as photovoltaics.

NEEDS (Nano-Engineered Electronic Devices Simulation) Node

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Joachim Knoch (2013), "Tunnel FETs - Device Physics and Realizations," https://nanohub.org/resources/18723.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. devices
2. MOSFET
3. nanoelectronics
4. nanotransistors
5. NEEDS node
6. transistors
7. tunnel FETs (TFET)
8. tunneling