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Complementary carbon nanotube metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors with localized solid-state extension doping

Nature Electronics volume 6, pages 999–1008 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Low-dimensional semiconductors such as one-dimensional carbon nanotubes could be used to shrink the gate length of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) below the limits of silicon-based transistors. However, the development of industry-compatible doping strategies and polarity-control methods for such systems is challenging. Here we report top-gate complementary carbon nanotube MOSFETs in which localized conformal solid-state extension doping is used to set the device polarity and achieve performance matching. The channel of the transistors remains undoped, providing complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor-compatible n- and p-MOSFET threshold voltages of +0.29 V and −0.25 V, respectively. The foundry-compatible fabrication process implements localized charge transfer in the extensions from either defect levels in silicon nitride (SiNx) for n-type devices or an electrostatic dipole at the SiNx/aluminium oxide (Al2O3) interface for p-type devices. We observe SiNx donor defect densities approaching 5 × 1019 cm−3, which could sustain carbon nanotube carrier densities of 0.4 nm−1 in the extensions of scaled nanotube devices. Our technique is potentially applicable to other advanced field-effect transistor channel materials, including two-dimensional semiconductors.

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Fig. 1: CNT device architecture comparison.
Fig. 2: Top-gate complementary CNT MOSFETs with the devices’ polarity set by localized conformal solid-state extension doping.
Fig. 3: Device layout, capacitance-voltage characteristics, channel-carrier mobility and density.
Fig. 4: Development of solid-state extension doping.
Fig. 5: Modelling of solid-state extension doping.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the use of facilities and instrumentation supported by the National Science Foundation through the University of California San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center DMR-2011924.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Z. Zhang, M. Passlack.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Zichen Zhang, Shreyam Natani, Wade E. Shipley & Prabhakar Bandaru

  2. Corporate Research, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, San Jose, CA, USA

    Matthias Passlack, Gregory Pitner, Nathaniel Safron & H.-S. Philip Wong

  3. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Sheng-Kai Su, Tzu-Ang Chao, San Lin Liew, Vincent D.-H. Hou, Chen-Feng Hsu, Tsung-En Lee & Iuliana Radu

  4. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Leuven, Belgium

    Gerben Doornbos

  5. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Andrew C. Kummel

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Contributions

Z.Z. and M.P. contributed equally. Z.Z. conducted the device fabrication and measurement. M.P. developed the impedance and doping models, device layout and data analysis. G.P., W.E.S., N.S. and T-E.L. contributed to device fabrication, and S.N. supported impedance measurements. S.-K.S. and G.D. contributed to device modelling. T.-A.C. provided the CNT substrates. S.L.L., V.D.-H.H. and C.-F.H. provided TEM analysis. I.R., A.C.K., P.B. and H.-S.P.W. guided the project. Z.Z. and M.P. prepared the paper draft, and all the authors commented on the final version.

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Correspondence to Matthias Passlack.

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Zhang, Z., Passlack, M., Pitner, G. et al. Complementary carbon nanotube metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors with localized solid-state extension doping. Nat Electron 6, 999–1008 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-023-01047-2

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