Orientation and Shape Effects on Ballistic Transport Properties in Gate-All-Around Rectangular Germanium Nanowire nFETs

The electron transport properties of square and rectangular cross-sectional germanium nanowire (GeNW) field-effect transistors (FETs) with [001], [110], [111], and [112] crystal orientations are investigated. The electronic states of GeNWs are calculated by using an sp³d⁵s* tight-binding model coupled to a Poisson equation self-consistently. A semiclassical ballistic FET model is used to evaluate the electron transport characteristics. For the square cross section, electron injection velocity dominates the drive current in GeNW FETs because the inversion electron density in the GeNW channels is mainly determined by the capacitance of the gate insulator, and a [110] GeNW FET achieves the highest drive current of all the orientations. In the case of rectangular cross section, the electron density in GeNWs is dependent on their orientations and cross-sectional geometries due to the small quantum capacitance, and the difference of the density of states of GeNWs significantly affects the drive current. A [112] GeNW FET on a (11̅0) face exhibits the highest injection velocity of all the calculated FETs but low drive current because of its insufficient density of states. As a result, a [110] GeNW FET on a (001) face, which has both large density of states and high injection velocity, achieves the highest drive current.