Design, Fabrication and Characterization of High-Performance Silicon Nanowire Transistor

We report the fabrication and characterization of double-gated Si nanowire field effect transistors with excellent current-voltage characteristics, low subthreshold slope ~85 mV/dec and high on/off current ratio ~10⁶. The Si nanowire devices are fabricated by using a self-aligned technique with standard photolithographic alignment and metal lift-off processes, enabling the large-scale integration of high-performance nanowire devices. We have also studied the effect of device structure and forming gas rapid thermal annealing on the nanowire transistor´s electrical properties. We conclude that the self-aligned fabrication and non-overlapped gate-source/drain structure combined with appropriate post annealing leads to the excellent observed device performance.