Active strain modulation in field effect devices

In this work we propose a novel feature for the transistor: a piezo-electric layer for strain modulation of the channel. The strain is formed at strong inversion only, to obtain a lower threshold voltage, but will be absent in the off-state to preserve the unstrained leakage current. Our results, obtained by combining electrical and mechanical finite element method simulation, demonstrate a seven mV/dec steeper subthreshold swing for a classical SOI transistor and ten mV/dec improvement for a silicon tunnel field effect transistor.