The variability of a transistor increases significantly as the transistor gets smaller and smaller—sometimes making circuits unusable. A joint INAC-Léti research team has estimated the phenomenon at 50 mK for transistors whose nanometric-scale channel contains just a few dopants. The study revealed that the dopants play a decisive role, since, they can significantly reduce or increase the electrical voltage needed to close the transistor based on their position. The findings challenge ionization energy (hence the threshold voltage) predictions based on non-interacting dopants in an infinite crystal. The results show that the finite size and the presence of nearby interfaces with other materials (insulating or conducting) are crucial to explaining the variability observed within nominally identical samples.
Contact: xavier.jehl@cea.fr
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