Performance analysis and design optimization of near ballistic carbon nanotube field-effect transistors

Abstract

A near ballistic carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNTFET) that integrates an ultra-short channel, low-barrier metal contacts, and a thin high- K gate insulator is modeled and analyzed using self-consistent quantum simulations. Numerical simulations, which solve a quantum transport equation self-consistently with a 3D Poisson equation using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism, are used to understand the transistor physics and to suggest design optimization. Important device issues of (1) how close the transistor operates to its ballistic limit, (2) What are the roles of phonon scattering and higher subband conduction, (3) how to further optimize the CNTFET, and (4) How the CNTFET compares to a state-of-the-art Si MOSFET, are explored and discussed. © 2004 IEEE.