Can the Interband Tunnel FET Outperform Si CMOS?

This paper presents simulations on tunnel field-effect transistors (TFET) and comparisons carefully to assess their impact at the same supply voltage. Current-voltage characteristics are simulated for n and p TFETs with different channel materials:Si,Ge,InGaAs, and InAs. Results show that InAs has the highest current for its smallest bandgap and effective mass, but it can not meet the off-state leakage requirement for the significant thermal emission across its narrow bandgap; Ge and InGaAs have high channel currents at 0.5 V and have much lower off-state current than MOSFETs due to their higher off-state thermal barrier between source and drain. The speed, power and energy comparisons at 0.5 V supply voltage of n-TFETs with different channel materials and scaled NMOS are also examined. The p-TFET compares even more favorably with the pMOSFET, having higher speed. TFETs with proper channel material have the potential for high-performance relative to Si at the same supply voltage.