Enhancing Device Performance with High Electron Mobility GeSn Materials

As transistors continue to shrink, the need to replace silicon with materials of higher carrier mobilities becomes imperative. Group-IV semiconductors, and particularly GeSn alloys, stand out for their high electron and hole mobilities, making them attractive for next-generation electronics. While Ge p-channel devices already possess a high hole mobility, here the focus is on enhancing n-channel transistor performance by utilizing the superior electron mobility of GeSn as channel material. Vertical gate-all-around nanowire (GAA NW) transistors are fabricated using epitaxial GeSn heterostructures that leverage the material growth, in situ doping, and band engineering across source/channel/drain regions. It is demonstrated that increasing Sn content in GeSn alloys constantly improves the device performances, reaching a fivefold on-current improvement over standard Ge devices for 11 at.% Sn content. The present results underline the real potential of the GeSn alloys to bring performance and energy efficiency to future nanoelectronics applications.