Field-effect transistor figures of merit for vapor–liquid–solid-grown Ge1-xSnx (x = 0.03–0.09) nanowire devices

Galluccio, Emmanuele; Doherty, Jessica; Biswas, Subhajit; Holmes, Justin D.; Duffy, Ray

Field-effect transistor figures of merit for vapor–liquid–solid-grown Ge1-xSnx (x = 0.03–0.09) nanowire devices

Files

GeSn-NWFETs_Final.pdf(1.61 MB)

Accepted version

Date

2020-04-08

Authors

Galluccio, Emmanuele

Doherty, Jessica

Biswas, Subhajit

Holmes, Justin D.

Duffy, Ray

Publisher

American Chemical Society

Published Version

10.1021/acsaelm.0c00036

Abstract

Ge1-xSnx alloys form a heterogeneous material system with high potential for applications in both optoelectronic and high-speed electronics devices. The attractiveness of Ge1-xSnx lies in the ability to tune the semiconductor band gap and electronic properties as a function of Sn concentration. Advances in Ge1-xSnx material synthesis have raised expectations recently, but there are considerable problems in terms of device demonstration. Although Ge1-xSnx thin films have been previously explored experimentally, in-depth studies of the electrical properties of Ge1-xSnx nanostructures are very limited, specifically those on nanowires grown via a bottom-up vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) process using metal catalysts. In this study, a detailed electrical investigation is presented of nominally undoped Ge1-xSnx bottom-up-grown nanowire devices with different Sn percentages (3–9 at. %). The entire device fabrication process is performed at relatively low temperatures, the maximum temperature being 440 °C. Device current modulation is performed through backgating from a substrate electrode, achieving impressive on–off current (ION/IOFF) ratios of up to 104, showing their potential for electronic and sensor-based applications. Contact resistance (RC) extraction is essential for proper VLS-grown nanowire device electrical evaluation. Once the RC contribution is extracted and removed, parameter values such as mobility can change significantly, by up to 70% in this work. When benchmarked against other Ge1-xSnx electronic devices, the VLS-grown nanowire devices have potential in applications where a high ION/IOFF ratio is important and where thermal budget and processing temperatures are required to be kept to minimum.

Keywords

Ge1-xSnx , Nanowires , Low-temperature processing , Contact resistance , Carrier mobility , Sub-threshold slope , MOSFETs

Citation

Galluccio, E., Dohert, J., Biswas, S., Holmes, J. D. and Duffy, R. (2020) 'Field-Effect Transistor Figures of Merit for Vapor–Liquid–Solid-Grown Ge1-xSnx (x = 0.03–0.09) Nanowire Devices', ACS Applied Electronic Materials, 2(5), pp.1226-1234. doi: 10.1021/acsaelm.0c00036

Copyright

© 2020 American Chemical Society. This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Applied Electronic Materials, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsaelm.0c00036

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