Bipolar I-MOS—An Impact-Ionization MOS With Reduced Operating Voltage Using the Open-Base BJT Configuration

In this brief, we propose a novel bipolar junction transistor-based I-MOS, called the bipolar I-MOS, to reduce the operating voltage of the I-MOS using the transistor gain action. Using 2-D simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed bipolar I-MOS exhibits a low operating voltage (~2.8 V), which is ~60% lower than that of the corresponding p-i-n I-MOS, and also a steep subthreshold slope of 6.25 mV/decade. In the bipolar I-MOS, since the avalanche-generated carriers do not pass through the channel region under the gate, it is expected to have a higher reliability compared with the p-i-n I-MOS. Therefore, the bipolar I-MOS could be a promising candidate for near ideal switching applications.