Ultra-low power electronics with Si/Ge tunnel FET

Si/Ge Tunnel FET (TFET) with its subthermal subthreshold swing is attractive for low power analog and digital designs. Greater I_on/I_off ratio of TFET can reduce the dynamic power in digital designs, while higher g_m/I_DS can lower the bias power of analog amplifier. However, the above benefits of TFET are eclipsed by MOSFET at a higher power/performance point. Ultra low power scalability of the key analog and digital circuits, SRAM and operational transconductance amplifier (OTA), with TFET is demonstrated. Analyzing a TFET based cellular neural network, this work shows the feasibility of ultra-low-power neuromorphic computing with TFET.