Random-Dopant-Induced Drain Current Variation in Nano-MOSFETs: A Three-Dimensional Self-Consistent Monte Carlo Simulation Study Using “Ab Initio” Ionized Impurity Scattering

A comprehensive simulation study of random-dopant-induced drain current variability is presented for a series of well-scaled n-channel MOSFETs representative of the 90-, 65-, 45-, 35-, and 22-nm technology nodes. Simulations are performed at low and high drain biases using both 3-D drift diffusion (DD) and 3-D Monte Carlo (MC). The ensemble MC simulator incorporates an ldquo ab initiordquo treatment of ionized impurity scattering through the real-space trajectories of the carriers in the Coulomb potential of the random discrete impurities. When compared with DD simulations, the MC simulations reveal a significant increase in the drain current variability as a result of additional transport variations due to position-dependent Coulomb scattering that is not captured within the DD mobility model. Such transport variations are in addition to the electrostatic variation in carrier density that is alone captured within the DD approach. Through comparison of the DD and MC results, we estimate the relative importance of electrostatic and transport-induced variability at different drain bias conditions.