Comparative Simulation Analysis of Process-Induced Variability in Nanoscale SOI and Bulk Trigate FinFETs

This paper presents a comprehensive simulation study of the process and statistical variability in 16-nm technology node bulk and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) fin field effect transistors (FinFETs). The devices are carefully designed to offer good manufacturability while meeting the performance requirements of the 16-nm technology. First, the sensitivity of the two types of FinFETs to process- induced channel length, fin-width, and fin-height variability is carefully investigated and compared based on the threshold voltage, OFF-current, and overdrive current sensitivity. Possible improvement of the SOI substrate design for reduction of the SOI FinFET sensitivity to fin-width variation is also discussed. The individual and combined impact of the relevant statistical variability sources including random discrete dopants (RDDs), fin-line edge roughness, gate-line edge roughness, and metal gate granularity are studied and compared for the nominal 25-nm gate length FinFET designs.