Effects of gate notching profile defect on characteristic of cell NMOSFET in low-power SRAM device

The effects of gate notching profile defects on transistor performance in cell NMOSFETs of low-power SRAM devices with 0.12 μm channel length were investigated. Experimentally, it was found that gate notching profile defects cause serious degradation of the transconductance and the transistor drive current. TSUPREM4 simulations showed that the degradation of transistor characteristics is related to the penetration of the gate notching into the channel region over the source/drain (S/D) extension region and the rapid reduction of gate electric field. Moreover, we found that the degradation of transistor performance is more sensitive to notch depth than notch height.