FINFET

TECHNOLOGY

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO VLSI TECHNOLOGY

MOORES LAW AND ITS LIMITATIONS
LIMITATIONS ON MOSFET TECHNOLOGY
SHORT CHANNEL EFFECT IN MOSFET
INTRODUCTION TO FINFET
WHY WE NEED FINFET
STRUCTURE OF FINFET
FABRICATION PROCESS OF FINFET
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF FINFET
APPLICATIONS OF FINFET
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION TO VLSI
Very-large-scale
integration (VLSI) is the
process of creating integrated
circuits by combining thousands
of transistors into a single chip.
VLSI began in the 1970s when
complex semiconductor
and communication technologies
were being developed.

MOSFET TECHNOLOGY
The growth of digital
technologies like the
microprocessor has
provided the motivation
to advance MOSFET
technology faster than
any other type of siliconbased transistor.
A big advantage of
MOSFETs for digital
switching is that the
oxide layer between the
gate and the channel
prevents DC current
from flowing through the
gate, further reducing
power consumption and

MOORES
LAW

THE NUMBER OF TRANSISTORS

INCORPORATED IN A CHIP WILL
APPROXIMATELY DOUBLE EVERY 24 MONTHS.

GORDON MOORE

LIMITATIONS ON MOSFET
TECHNOLOGY

Short channel effects

limiting
scaling into sub
nanometer regime.
Oxide thickness cannot
be scaled down further,
problems of tunneling.
performance and power
dissipation need to be
improved.
Need to keep silicon
technology
7

Power Consumption Problems

1.Not just a chip and package
thermal issue.
2.ICs use a few% of worlds
electricity today and
Power per chip is growing.
IC units in use also growing.
3.If power consumption is not
reduced, industry future growth
is at risk.

Long channel Transistor(MOSFET)

GGaa

Ctegte Insulator
Drain

Source

Vg

Energy Band Diagram

C OX

Ec
Ev
Drain

SHORT CHANNEL EFFECTS IN

MOSFET
It is an effect whereby a MOSFET in which
the channel length is the same order of
magnitude as the depletion layer widths of
source & drain junctions, behaves differently
from the other MOSFETs.
As the channel length l is reduced to
increase both the operation speed and the
number of components per chip, the so called
SCE occurs.

(A/
m)

SHORT CHANNEL-PROBLEMS
10-3

GGaa

Ctegte Insulator

D
S

10-5

Smaller
Size
shrink
size

Drain
Current, I

10-7
10

-9

Cd

or
larger Vd

10-11

Drain

Source

Gate 0.3
Voltage,
V
0.6

0.0
(V)
0.9

MOSFET becomes resistor at very small L - Drain

G
competes with Gate
to control the channel barrier.
S

Reducing EOT is Not Enough

Gate
Source

Drain

Leakage Path
Gate cannot control the leakage current
paths that are far from the gate.
In planar devices on-current is
mostly carried out in a top layer.
Body current is a source of leakage
when the device is off.

One Way to Better Vt and S

The gate controls a thin body from
more than one side.
Gate Length

Source

Source

Gate
Drain

FinFET body is a
thin fin

Drain

Gate

Fin Height
Fin Width

INTRODUCTION TO FINFET
The term FINFET describes a non-planar,
double gate transistor built on an SOI
substrate, based on the single gate transistor
design.
The important characteristics of FINFET is
that the conducting channel is a thin Si fin,
which forms the body of the device.
The thickness of the fin determines the
effective channel length of the device.

HISTORY OF FINFET
FINFET is a transistor design first
developed by Chenming Hu and his
colleagues at the University of California at
Berkeley, which tries to overcome the worst
types of SCE(Short Channel Effect).
Originally, FINFET was developed for use on
Silicon-On-Insulator(SOI).
SOI FINFET with thick oxide on top of fin are
called Double-Gate and those with thin
oxide on top as well as on sides are called
Triple-Gate FINFETs

WHY WE NEED FINFET ?

Planar doesnt scale beyond gate length of 25nm
And also gate oxide doesnt scale.
If we assume we have a gate dielectric of
thickness zero, Then also we cannot control SECS.
For the double gate soi mosfets, The gates
control the energy barrier between source and
drain effectively.

FINFET

WHAT DOES FINFET LOOKS LIKE?

ctive channel width W = Tfin + 2Hfin

ctive channel length Leff = Lgate + 2Lext

GENERAL LAYOUT & MODE OF

OPERATION
The basic electrical layout
and mode of operation of a
FINFET does not differ from a
traditional FET.

There is one source and one

drain contact as well as a gate
to control the current flow.
In contrast to planar
MOSFET, the channel b/w
source and drain is build as 3D
bar on top of the Si substrate

FINS

The thickness of the fin

(measured in the direction from
source to drain) determines the
effective length of the device.

Drain

As the channel is very thin the

gate has a great control over
carriers within it, but, when the
device is switched.

Gate Length
Source

The fin is used to form the

raised channel.

Fin Height
Fin Width

FINS
The fin is used to form the raised
channel.
As the channel is very thin the gate
has a great control over carriers within
it, but, when the device is switched on,
the shape limits the current through it
to a low level.
The thickness of the fin (measured in
the direction from source to drain)

Fabrication - Process Flow

Easy in concept----Tough to build

(a) SiN is deposited as a

hard mask,
SiO2 cap is used to relieve
the stress.
(b) Si fin is patterned
(c) A thin sacrificial SiO2 is
grown
(d) The sacrificial oxide is
stripped
completely to remove etch
damage

10 nm gate length, 12 nm fin wid

ADVANTAGES OF FINFET
Higher technological maturity than planar DG
Suppressed Short Channel Effect(SCE)
Better in driving current
More compact
Low cost

DISADVANTAGES OF FINFET
Reduced mobility for electrons
Higher source and drain resistances
Poor reliability

APPLICATIONS
Low power
design in
digital circuit,
such as RAM,
because of its
low off-state
current.
Power
amplifier or
other
application in
analog area
which requires
good linearity.

CONCLUSION
Double-gate FET can reduce Short Channel
Effects and FinFET is the leading DGFET.
Optimization design includes geometry, S-D finextension
doping, dielectric thickness scaling, threshold
voltage control.
Fabrication of FinFET is compatible with CMOS
process
10 nm gate length, 12 nm fin width device has

REFERENCES
[1]TsuJae King Liu,FinFETHistory,Fundamentals and
Future, 2012 Symposium on
VLSI Technology .
[2] Jovanovi, T. Suligoj, P. Biljanovi, L.K. Nanver, FinFET
technology for wide-channel devices with ultra-thin silicon
body.
[3] M.Jurczak, N.Collaert, A.Veloso, T.Hoffmann, S.Biesemans,
Review of FinFET Technology, IEEE
[4]http://www. techalone.com, Electronic seminar topic .
[5] Vishwas Jaju, Silicon-on-Insulator Technology, EE 530,
Advances in MOSFETs, spring 20010 pp. 1-12.

Queries?