Abstract
In this work, we have simulated doping less tunneling field-effect transistor (DL-TFET) based pH sensor which can detect the pH variation in an aqueous (electrolyte) medium. The source-sided underlapped technique is employed to achieve better sensitivity. The simulated results were extracted with the help of the software package TCAD-Silvaco. In this work, we have compared the pH sensing capabilities of both conventionally doped TFET (C-TFET) and DL-TFET having the same configuration. Result suggests that the sensitivity of DL-TFET is equal to that of C-TFET. Since DL-TFET already exhibits superiority over C-TFET in terms of better immunity against random doping fluctuations (RDF), low fabrication cost and complexity, it can be used as a better alternative to C-TFET based ISFETs. Furthermore, in this work, we have discussed and demonstrated how the performance and sensitivity of the DL-TFET device can be further increased by the use of low energy band materials like germanium in the source region and high K dielectric materials like Al2O3 as a sensitive oxide layer underneath the underlapped region. The voltage sensitivity achieved by DL-TFET in this work is 312 mV/pH which surpasses the Nernst limits by more than 5 times.
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Zuber Rasool: Simulation, Computation, TCAD software and Writing – Original draft preparation.
S. Intekhab Amin: Conceptualization, Computation, TCAD software, Revision, Supervision, and Validation.
Lubna Majeed: Computation, TCAD software Simulation and Writing.
Ishrat Bashir: Simulation and Writing.
Anjar Seraj: Computation and simulation.
Sunny Anand: revision, Supervision, and Validation.
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Rasool, Z., Amin, S.I., Majeed, L. et al. Simulation-based Study of Super-Nernstian pH Sensor Based on Doping-less Tunnel-field Effect Transistor. Silicon 15, 4285–4296 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02329-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02329-2