The large-scale integration of high-performance silicon nanowire field effect transistors

In this work we present a CMOS-compatible self-aligning process for the large-scale-integration of high-performance nanowire field effect transistors with well-saturated drain currents, steep subthreshold slopes at low drain voltage and a large on/off current ratio (>10(7)). The subthreshold swing is as small as 45 mV/dec, which is substantially beyond the thermodynamic limit (60 mV/dec) of conventional planar MOSFETs. These excellent device characteristics are achieved by using a clean integration process and a device structure that allows effective gate-channel-source coupling to tune the source/drain Schottky barriers at the nanoscale.