Tin (Sn) - An Unlikely Ally to Extend Moore's Law for Silicon CMOS?

Abstract

There has been an exponential increase in the performance of silicon based semiconductor devices in the past few decades. This improvement has mainly been due to dimensional scaling of the MOSFET. However, physical constraints limit the continued growth in device performance. To overcome this problem, novel channel materials are being developed to enhance carrier mobility and hence increase device performance. This work explores a novel semiconducting alloy - Silicon-tin (SiSn) as a channel material for CMOS applications. For the first time ever, MOS devices using SiSn as channel material have been demonstrated. A low cost, scalable and manufacturable process for obtaining SiSn by diffusion of Sn into silicon has also been explored. The channel material thus obtained is electrically characterized by fabricating MOSCAPs and Mesa-shaped MOSFETs. The SiSn devices have been compared to similar devices fabricated using silicon as channel material.