A simulation study of vertical tunnel field effect transistors

We report a simulation study of the characteristics of a new tunnel field effect transistor (TFET), i.e., vertical TFET (VTFET). The new VTFET has a different working principle compared with the traditional lateral TFET (LTFET), which most of the recent studies are focused on. Although both type TFETs are based on band to band tunneling, the tunneling occurs perpendicular to the oxide-Si interface in the VTFET whereas it occurs parallel in LTFET. The VTFET has many advantages compared with the LTFET, such as a steeper subthreshold slope as the gate voltage control the tunneling directly. The steep subthreshold slope results in low OFF current and capability for low power operation.