Field effect transistor, method of fabricating field effect transistor, and electronic device

Abstract

A field effect transistor (FET), a method of fabricating the field effect transistor, and an electronic device are provided. The field effect transistor comprises: a source and a drain, the source being made of a Dirac material (103); a channel disposed between the source and the drain, and doped opposite to the source; and a gate (106) disposed on the channel and electrically insulated from the channel.

Claims

1. A field effect transistor, comprising: a source and a drain, the source being made of a Dirac material; a channel disposed between the source and the drain, wherein the channel is made of a channel material; and a gate disposed on the channel and electrically insulated from the channel; wherein the channel material is a first material that is n-type doped and the Dirac material is a second material that is p-type doped, or the channel material is a first material that is p-type doped and the Dirac material is a second material that is n-type doped, and wherein the first material when not being doped is different from the second material when not being doped.

2. The field effect transistor according to claim 1, wherein the Dirac material comprises: graphene, a Weyl semi-metal, a d-wave superconductor or a topological insulator.

3. The field effect transistor according to claim 1, wherein the source is in electrical contact with the channel.

4. The field effect transistor according to claim 3, wherein a contact barrier height between the source and the channel is less than 0.2 eV.

5. The field effect transistor according to claim 1, wherein the source is n-doped and the channel is p-doped; or the source is p-doped and the channel is n-doped.

6. The field effect transistor according to claim 1, further comprising: a gate insulating layer formed on the channel and having an equivalent oxide thickness of less than 2 nm.

7. The field effect transistor according to claim 1, wherein the channel material comprises at least one of: a carbon nanotube, a semiconductor nanowire, a two-dimensional semiconductor material, and a three-dimensional semiconductor material.

8. The field effect transistor according to claim 1, wherein the drain and the channel are formed of the same layer of material.

9. The field effect transistor according to claim 1, wherein the drain is formed of the Dirac material or a metal material.

10. A method of fabricating a field effect transistor, comprising: forming a channel on a substrate; and forming a source and a drain on the substrate, such that the channel is disposed between the source and the drain, wherein the source is formed of a Dirac material and is doped opposite to the channel, the channel being made of a channel material; wherein the channel material is a first material that is n-type doped and the Dirac material is a second material that is p-type doped, or the channel material is a first material that is p-type doped and the Dirac material is a second material that is n-type doped, and wherein the first material when not being doped is different from the second material when not being doped.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the Dirac material comprises: graphene, a Weyl semi-metal, ad-wave superconductor or a topological insulator.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of forming a source and a drain on the substrate further comprises electrically contacting the source with the channel.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a contact barrier height between the source and the channel is less than 0.2 eV.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the source is n-doped and the channel is p-doped; or the source is p-doped and the channel is n-doped.

15. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: forming a gate insulating layer on the channel, wherein the gate insulating layer has an equivalent oxide thickness of less than 2 nm.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the drain and the channel are formed of the same layer of material.

17. The method according to claim 10, wherein the drain is formed of the Dirac material or a metal material.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the channel material comprises at least one of: a carbon nanotube, a semiconductor nanowire, a two-dimensional semiconductor material, and a three-dimensional semiconductor material.

19. An electronic device comprising the field effect transistor according to claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The figures illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, and, together with their depictions, are used to explain the principles of the present disclosure. The figures, which are included and constitute part of the Description are provided to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure.

(2) FIG. 1 exemplarily shows a schematic structural view of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(3) FIG. 2 exemplarily shows a top view of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(4) FIG. 3 exemplarily shows a transfer curve of an example of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(5) FIG. 4 exemplarily shows a comparison of transfer characteristics of a conventional field effect transistor with those of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(6) FIG. 5 exemplarily shows a schematic structural view of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(7) FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of a method of fabricating a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(8) FIG. 7 exemplarily shows a flowchart of a step of forming a channel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(9) FIGS. 8A-8B exemplarily illustrate sub-steps of providing a material for forming a channel on a substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(10) FIGS. 9A-9B exemplarily illustrate sub-steps of patterning a material to form a channel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(11) FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart of steps of forming a source and a drain on a substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(12) FIGS. 11A-11B exemplarily illustrate sub-steps of providing Dirac material for forming a source on a substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(13) FIGS. 12A-12B exemplarily illustrate sub-steps of patterning the Dirac material to form a source according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(14) FIGS. 13A-13B exemplarily illustrate steps of forming a source and a drain according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(15) FIGS. 14A-14B exemplarily illustrate steps of forming a gate insulating layer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(16) FIGS. 15A-15B exemplarily illustrate steps of forming a gate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

(17) FIG. 16 shows a schematic block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(18) The present disclosure will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the Drawings and embodiments. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only for the purpose of illustration, instead of limiting the present disclosure. It is to be noted that, for the convenience of depictions, only parts related to the present disclosure are shown in the drawings.

(19) It is also to be noted that under the circumstance of no conflicts, the features in the embodiments and the embodiments in the present disclosure may be combined with each other. The present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the Drawings and embodiments.

(20) FIG. 1 shows a schematic structural view of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may be formed on a substrate 101. The rigidity of the substrate 101 is sufficient to provide support for the device during fabricating operations. The substrate 101 can be an amorphous or crystalline material. By way of example, the substrate 101 can be glass, sapphire, silicon, polymer, silicon-on-insulator, or any other substrate on which an insulating layer can be deposited. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described substrates, because the semiconductor properties of field effect transistors according to embodiments of the present disclosure are not dependent on semiconductor characteristics of these substrates.

(21) A material 102 for forming a channel may be disposed on the substrate 101. The material 102 has electrical properties of a semiconductor. For example, the materials 102 may include carbon nanotubes, semiconductor nanowires, two-dimensional semiconductor materials (such as black phosphorus, and molybdenum disulfide), or three-dimensional semiconductor materials (such as silicon). However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Furthermore, for electronic transistors, the material 102 is n-doped such that material 102 has such electrical properties as an n-type semiconductor (e.g., electrons become primary carriers), and for hole-type transistors, the material 102 is p-doped such that the material 102 has such electrical properties as a p-type semiconductor (e.g., holes become primary carriers). The material 102 can be doped by, for example, a high temperature thermal diffusion technique or an ion implantation technique. The material 102 can be formed on the substrate 101 with chemical methods such as chemical vapor deposition or physical methods such as coating. Alternatively, the surface of the substrate 101 may also be doped to form the material 102. For example, when the substrate 101 is silicon-on-insulator, the silicon may be doped to form the material 102. In FIG. 1, material 102 is in direct contact with the substrate 101. However, those skilled in the art should appreciate that other layers or elements may be present between the material 102 and the substrate 101.

(22) Also provided on the substrate 101 is a Dirac material 103 for forming a source. The Dirac material referred to herein means a material of which the low-energy electron excitation acts like a Dirac particle, i.e. a material of which the low-energy electron excitation can be described by the Dirac equation. The density of electronic states of the Dirac material 103 is a decreasing function of energy, and the electron density decreases super-exponentially as the energy increases. For example, the Dirac material 103 can include: graphene, a Weyl semi-metal, a d-wave superconductor, or a topological insulator. It will be understood by one of ordinary skilled in the art that only part of examples of the Dirac material 103 are given in the present disclosure, and that all materials that can be used as the Dirac material 103 are not exhaustive, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 1, the Dirac material 103 is in electrical contact with the material 102. Although FIG. 1 shows that the Dirac material 103 is juxtaposed with and in contact with the material 102, the Dirac material 103 may also overlap with the material 102, which is not limited in this disclosure. For electronic transistors, the Dirac material 103 is p-doped, and for hole-type transistors, the Dirac material 103 is n-doped, i.e., the Dirac material 103 is doped opposite to the material 102. Similarly, the Dirac material 103 can be doped by, for example, a high temperature thermal diffusion technique or an ion implantation technique. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the contact barrier height between the doped Dirac material 103 and the doped material 102 is less than 0.2 eV. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the drain and the channel are formed of the same layer of material, i.e., the drain is also formed of the material 102. By forming the drain and the channel from the same layer of material, the method of fabricating a field effect transistor can be simplified, the cost can be reduced, and the fabricating time can be shortened.

(23) A source 105 may be disposed on the Dirac material 103, and a drain 107 may be disposed on the material 102. The source 105 and the drain 107 are formed of a conductive material such as Al, or Pd. The source 105 and the drain 107 may be formed of the same material or may be formed of different materials. The source 105 and the drain 107 can be formed, for example, by processes such as thin film growth, photolithography, etching and the like.

(24) A gate insulating layer 104 may be laminated with the material 102. For example, the gate insulating layer 104 may include HfO.sub.2, Y.sub.2O.sub.3 or other insulating materials. The gate insulating layer 104 can be formed with a method such as atomic layer deposition. Although the gate insulating layer 104 is shown to cover only a portion of the material 102 in FIG. 1, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the gate insulating layer 104 may cover the entire surfaces of the Dirac material 103 and the material 102, or the gate insulating layer 104 may cover only the entire surface of the material 102 without covering the Dirac material 103. When the gate insulating layer 104 covers the Dirac material 103, the source 105 may be in contact with the Dirac material 103 through a via hole formed in the gate insulating layer 104. When the gate insulating layer 104 covers the entire surface of the material 102, the drain 107 may be in contact with the material 102 through a via hole formed in the gate insulating layer 104. In addition, the equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of the gate insulating layer 104 may be less than 2 nm. The equivalent oxide thickness as referred to herein means the equivalent thickness of a thin layer of any dielectric material by regarding the dielectric material as silicon dioxide equivalently.

(25) A gate 106 may be disposed on the gate insulating layer 104 and electrically insulated from the material 102 by the gate insulating layer 104. The projection of the gate 106 on the material 102 at least partially coincides with the projection of the gate insulating layer 104 on the material 102. The projected area of the gate 106 on the material 102 can be less than or equal to the projected area of the gate insulating layer 104 on the material 102. For example, the projected area of the gate 106 on the material 102 is shown in FIG. 2 to be less than the projected area of the gate insulating layer 104 on the material 102. The gate 106 may be formed of a conductive material such as Al, or Pd. The gate 106, the source 105 and the drain 107 may be formed of the same or different material(s), and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Similarly, the gate 106 can be formed, for example, by processes such as thin film growth, photolithography, etching and the like.

(26) FIG. 3 illustrates a transfer curve of an example of a field effect transistor in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 3 illustrates a transfer curve at room temperature of an example of a field effect transistor according to a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, the transfer curve representing a relationship between a source-drain current I.sub.ds and a gate source voltage V.sub.gs. The room temperature referred to herein means 300K. The field effect transistor in the present embodiment has a structure similar to that shown in FIG. 1. In the example of the field effect transistor according to the present embodiment, n-doped graphene is used as a source. In FIG. 3, it can be observed that in the present embodiment, in the case where the source-drain voltage is −0.5 V and −0.1 V, a subthreshold swing of less than 60 mV/Dec, specifically 40 mV/Dec, can be obtained. Thus, a field effect transistor in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure can realize a subthreshold swing that is less than the theoretical minimum value of a subthreshold swing of a conventional field effect transistor at room temperature (i.e., 60 mV/Dec). Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above-described subthreshold swing of 40 mV/Dec is only a subthreshold swing realized by one example of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. However, the field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can also realize other subthreshold swings of less than 60 mV/Dec, such as about 50 mV/Dec, about 40 mV/Dec, and about 35 mV/Dec.

(27) FIG. 4 schematically shows a comparison of transfer characteristics of a conventional field effect transistor at room temperature with those of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In FIG. 4, the solid line represents the transfer characteristic of a conventional field effect transistor having a subthreshold swing of 60 mV/Dec, and the dashed line represents the transfer characteristic of the field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Since a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can obtain a subthreshold swing of less than 60 mV/Dec, a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can obtain a smaller operating voltage VDD with respect to a conventional field effect transistor, and an on-state current having a magnitude approximate to that of the on-state current of a conventional field effect transistor can be obtained. As an example, a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may obtain an operating voltage of about 0.5 V, which is lower than an operating voltage of 0.7 V of a current 14 nm process Si MOS FET, and a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can obtain an on-state current approximately equal to the on-state current of the current 14 nm process Si MOS FET at an operating voltage of 0.5V.

(28) Compared with related arts, the field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can realize a subthreshold swing of less than 60 mV/Dec at room temperature, and can realize a smaller operating voltage, a similar on-state current and a smaller off-state current, reducing power consumption.

(29) FIG. 5 shows a schematic structural view of a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Substrate 501, material 502, Dirac material 503, gate insulating layer 504, source 505, gate 506, and drain 507 in FIG. 5 are the same as substrate 101, material 102, Dirac material 103, gate insulating layer 104, source 105, gate 106, and drain 107 in FIG. 1 respectively, and thus it will not be repeatedly described herein. In the present embodiment, the field effect transistor further includes a Dirac material 508 between the drain 507 and the substrate 501. The Dirac material 508 acts as a drain and is in electrical contact with the material 502. In the present embodiment, the Dirac material 508 is the same as the Dirac material 503. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the Dirac material 508 may also be different from the Dirac material 503, which is not limited in this disclosure.

(30) Similarly, compared with related arts, a field effect transistor having the structure shown in FIG. 5 can realize a subthreshold swing of less than 60 mV/Dec at room temperature, and can realize a smaller operating voltage, a similar on-state current and a smaller off-state current, reducing power consumption.

(31) FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a method of fabricating a field effect transistor in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. A method of fabricating a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present disclosure comprises:

(32) S1: forming a channel on the substrate; and

(33) S2: forming a source and a drain on the substrate such that the channel is disposed between the source and the drain, wherein the source is formed of a Dirac material and is doped opposite to the channel.

(34) As shown in FIG. 7, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the step of forming a channel on a substrate may include the following sub-steps:

(35) S11: disposing a material 602 for forming a channel on the substrate 601; and

(36) S12: pattering the material 602 to form a channel.

(37) FIGS. 8A-8B exemplarily illustrate sub-steps of providing a material for forming a channel on the substrate. FIGS. 9A-9B exemplarily illustrate sub-steps of patterning a material to form a channel. The material 602 can be formed on the substrate 601 with chemical methods such as chemical vapor deposition or physical methods such as coating. The material 602 should have the electrical properties of a semiconductor. For example, the material 602 can include carbon nanotubes, semiconductor nanowires, two-dimensional semiconductor materials (such as black phosphorus, and molybdenum disulfide), or three-dimensional semiconductor materials (such as silicon). However, the disclosure is not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, the material 602 may be prepared in advance.

(38) Alternatively, the step of forming a channel on the substrate can include doping the substrate 601 to form a material 602 for forming a channel. For example, when the substrate 601 is silicon-on-insulator, the silicon may be doped to form the material 602. The material 602 can be formed in direct contact with the substrate 601. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other layers or elements can be present between the material 602 and the substrate 601.

(39) As shown in FIG. 10, the step of forming a source and a drain on a substrate may include the following sub-steps:

(40) S21: disposing a Dirac material 603 for forming a source on the substrate 601; and

(41) S22: pattering the Dirac material 603 to form a source.

(42) FIGS. 11A-11B exemplarily illustrate sub-steps of providing Dirac material for forming a source on a substrate. FIGS. 12A-12B exemplarily illustrate sub-steps of patterning the Dirac material to form a source. In step S22, the patterned Dirac material 603 is in electrical contact with the material 602. As described above, the Dirac material 603 is doped opposite to the material 602. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the contact barrier height between the doped Dirac material 603 and the doped material 602 is less than 0.2 eV.

(43) In the present embodiment, the drain and the channel are formed of the same layer of material, that is, the drain is also formed of the material 602. In the case where the drain and the channel are formed of the same layer of material, the drain and the channel can be formed in the same step. By forming the drain and the channel from the same layer of material, the method of fabricating the field effect transistor can be simplified, the cost can be reduced, and the fabricating time can be shortened. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the drain formed of the Dirac material can also be formed by steps similar to sub-steps S21 and S22, with the drain and source being formed on both sides of the channel. For example, another layer of Dirac material can be placed over the substrate 601 and the layer of Dirac material can be patterned to form a drain. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the source and the drain may be formed of the same Dirac material or may be formed of different Dirac materials, and the disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, both the source and the drain can be formed of graphene. In the case where the drain and source are formed of the same Dirac material, the drain may also be formed by the Dirac material 603 in sub-step S22.

(44) According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include forming a source and a drain. FIGS. 13A-13B exemplarily illustrate the steps of forming the source 605 and the drain 607. These steps can be carried out, for example, by processes such as film growth, photolithography, etching and the like.

(45) According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include forming a gate insulating layer. FIGS. 14A-14B exemplarily illustrate the steps of forming a gate insulating layer 604. This step can be carried out, for example, with a method such as atomic layer deposition. Although the gate insulating layer 604 only covers a portion of the material 602 in FIGS. 14A-14B, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the gate insulating layer 604 may also cover the entire surfaces of the Dirac material 603 and the material 602, or the insulating layer 604 may cover only the entire surface of the material 602 without covering the Dirac material 603. When the gate insulating layer 604 covers the Dirac material 603, the source 605 may be in contact with the Dirac material 603 through a via hole formed in the gate insulating layer 604. When the gate insulating layer 604 covers the entire surface of the material 602, the drain 607 may be in contact with the material 602 through a via hole formed in the gate insulating layer 604.

(46) According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may further include forming a gate. FIGS. 15A-15B exemplarily illustrate the steps of forming a gate 606. The gate 606 can be disposed on the gate insulating layer 604 and electrically insulated from the material 602 by the gate insulating layer 604. This step can be carried out, for example, by processes such as film growth, photolithography, etching and the like.

(47) Those skilled in the art should understand that the above mentioned substrate 601, material 602, Dirac material 603, source 605, gate 606, and drain 607 are the same as substrate 101, material 102, Dirac material 103, source 105, gate 106, and drain 107 in FIG. 1 respectively, and thus description of them will not be repeatedly described herein.

(48) Compared with related arts, a field effect transistor fabricated with the method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can realize a subthreshold swing of less than 60 mV/Dec at room temperature, and can realize a smaller operating voltage, a similar on-state current and a smaller off-state current, reducing power consumption.

(49) Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in some alternative embodiments, the steps shown in the flowcharts can be performed in a different order than shown in the Drawings. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially in parallel, or sometimes in a reverse order, depending on actual requirements.

(50) FIG. 16 shows a schematic block diagram of an electronic device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. An electronic device 1600 may include a field effect transistor 1610 as described above with reference to FIG. 1 or FIG. 5. The electronic device 1600 can be, for example, an integrated circuit device, an electronic apparatus, a computer, or the like.

(51) It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited by the scope of the disclosure. Other variations or modifications may be made by those skilled in the art based on the disclosure above, and such changes or modifications are still within the scope of the present disclosure.