GIDL in doped and undoped FinFET devices for low-leakage applications

Investigation of gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) in thick-oxide dual-gate doped-and undoped-channel FinFET devices through 3-D process and device simulations is presented. For a given gate length (LG) and gate dielectric thickness, the placement and grading of the drain junction and the channel doping are shown to have a tremendous impact on GIDL. Suppression of GIDL by as much as two orders of magnitude can be realized by formation of steep underlapped junctions for both doped-and undoped-channel devices. The prospect of low leakage levels in doped-channel high-VT FinFETs makes them suitable for memory cell applications. © 2012 IEEE.