Phonon assisted tunneling in gated p-i-n diodes

Recently it was shown that transistors based on vertical gated p-i-n diodes can be fabricated by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). At a very low supply voltage of −0.2 V, a current gain up to five orders of magnitude with saturation behavior is achieved. Supported by simulations, we discuss in the present article the electronic transport from transistor source to drain in the influenced two-dimensional electron channel as a function of doping profiles, oxide thickness, supply and gate voltage. Experimental data of devices, manufactured by means of MBE, indicate that the electron transport is ruled by a gate-controlled Esaki like phonon assisted tunneling mechanism. The results further show the possibility of scaling down such devices into the dimensions range of short channel MOSFETs for future Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) applications. Taking all the results into account, we discuss an advanced, completely new device similar to the fully-depleted double-gate MOSFET.