Efficient compact model for calculating the surface potential of carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors using a curve-fitting method

This paper presents an analytical method to compute the surface potential of ballistic metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET)-like carbon-nanotube field-effect transistors (CNFETs). The proposed compact model considers the surface potential as functions of the carbon-nanotube diameter, gate insulator thickness, gate voltage and drain voltage. One of the advantages of this model is that there is no need to refer to the numerical model to recalculate the surface potential each time nanotube diameter or insulator thickness is changed. Instead of using a constant smoothing parameter regardless of the device size and applied bias voltages, a parameter calculated for the specific situations is employed to provide the simulation results with higher accuracy. The validity of the proposed model was verified by comparing the simulated output characteristics of three CNFETs with those of the numerical model and the previous compact model. •A fully SPICE-compatible model for calculating the surface potential is proposed.•Model includes the dependence of surface potential on device size and applied biases.•A simpler and faster way to determine the IV characteristics of CNFETs is proposed.•Proposed model exhibits simulation results close to the numerical model.