Seminar - Professor Sean L. Rommel

Speaker

Professor Sean L. Rommel, Department of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology

Topic

Benchmarking of III-V Esaki Diodes for Tunneling Field Effect Transistor Applications

Abstract

Tunneling Field Effect Transistors (TFETs) are widely being considered as potential candidates for low-power steep subthreshold switching devices for the 7-nm technology node. A major challenge with the TFET has been achieving high drive currents commensurate with CMOS at low power supplies. The consensus of several experimental reports on TFETs is that a III-V based heterojunction will be the optimal system to maximize the current drive. The focus of this work is employing a two-terminal Esaki diode to explore and directly compare the ultimate current drive of several III-V systems as a function of the effect bandgap and doping. Comprehensive experimental benchmarking of Esaki diode performance is reported, including GaAs, In0:53Ga0:47As, InAs, In0:9As0:1Sb/Al0:4Ga0:6Sb, and InAs/GaSb.  Engineering of heterojunctions will enhance peak and Zener current densities beyond homojunctions, to a record 2.2 MA/cm2 and 11 MA/cm2 (-0.3 V), laying the fundamental groundwork for III-V TFETs at the 7-nm technology node.

Biography

Sean L. Rommel (IEEE Senior Member) received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware (Newark,DE) in 1996 and 2000, respectively.  His Ph.D. work focused on the realization of a CMOS compatible Si/SiGe Resonant Interband Tunnel diodes. From 2000-2002, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since 2002, he is at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he is an associate professor of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering.  His group demonstrated a world record peak-to-valley current ratio for GaAs/InGaAs Esaki diode integrated on a Si substrate as well as the highest tunnel current density reported in Esaki Diodes. His group has also recently published an extensive study benchmarking the peak current density in III-V Esaki Diodes. InAs/GaSb diodes were found to have a peak current density of 2.2 MA/cm2 with a Zener current density of 30 MA/cm2 at -0.5 V. Prof. Rommel is the recipient of the 1997 George W. Laird Merit Fellowship, the 2000 Allan P. Colburn Prize for Dissertation in Mathematics and Engineering, and the 2000 Teaching Assistant Award. He is a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Electron Devices Society.

Invited by IEEE EDS Chapter Chair, Siva Sivoththaman

ALL ARE WELCOME!