TCAD Simulations of Reconfigurable Field-Effect Transistor With Toothed Spacer to Improve On-Current

Reconfigurable field-effect transistors (RFETs) are regarded as a promising candidate for next-generation VLSI technology. In this work, a fin-type RFET structure with toothed spacer (TS-RFET) is presented to enhance the on-state saturation current (I_ON ). The results show that I_ON of the proposed TS-RFET is improved by 3.1 times under n-type and 2.4 times under p-type program, compared to its conventional counterpart. The barrier tunneling is intensified by the large potential difference across the width direction of the fin, which results from the different thickness of spacer on two sides of fin. Geometry parameters, including the difference of spacer thickness (ΔL_sp ), spacer covering length (L_cov ), and fin width ({W_fin), are investigated to assess their effects on dc and ac characteristics. An inverter composed of TS-RFET also shows about 56%–66% lower propagation delay, achieving symmetry for n-type and p-type programs simultaneously. The underlying physical mechanism is discussed in detail. This work serves as a guide for the design of high-performance RFET devices.