Effects of phonon scattering on the performance of silicon nanowire transistors

The effects of phonon scattering on the drain current and performance metrics of a silicon nanowire transistor are studied using a top of the barrier model. When the top of the channel potential is above the source Fermi level, electron backscattering is prohibited by the potential barrier and the transistor operates in near ballistic regime. At higher gate biases, the optical phonon scattering dominates and reduces the ballisticity and performance metrics significantly. The on-state drain current is reduced by 38%, the transconductance is reduced by 63%, and the switching speed is reduced by 60% due to phonon scattering.