Direct-tunneling gate leakage current in double-gate and ultrathin body MOSFETs

The impact of energy quantization on gate tunneling current is studied for double-gate and ultrathin body MOSFETs. Reduced vertical electric field and quantum confinement in the channel of these thin-body devices causes a decrease in gate leakage by as much as an order of magnitude. The effects of body thickness scaling and channel crystallographic orientation are studied. The impact of threshold voltage control solutions, including doped channel and asymmetric double-gate structures is also investigated. Future gate dielectric thickness scaling and the use of high-/spl kappa/ gate dielectrics are discussed.