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Graphene-based vertical thin film transistors

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Abstract

Vertical field effect transistors (VFETs), where the channel material is sandwiched between source-drain electrodes and the channel length is simply determined by its body thickness, have attracted considerable interest for high performance electronics owning to their intrinsic short channel length. To enable the effective gate modulation and current switching behavior, the electrode of conventional VFET is largely based on perforated metals, in which the gate electrical field could penetrate through. Recently, with the emerge of graphene, a new type of graphene based VFETs has been developed. With finite density of states and the weak electrostatic screening effect, graphene exhibits a field-tunable work-function and partial electrostatic transparency, it can thus function as an “active” contact with tunable graphene-channel junction, enabling entirely new transistor functions or higher device performance not previously possible. In this review, we discuss the research progresses of graphene-based VFET, including the its basic device structure, carrier transport mechanism, device performance and novel properties demonstrated.

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Acknowledgements

The work of Yuan LIU was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51802090, 61874041, 51991341) and Hunan Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars (Grant No. 812019037).

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  1. Key Laboratory for Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Devices of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China

    Liting Liu & Yuan Liu

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, USA

    Xiangfeng Duan

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Correspondence to Yuan Liu or Xiangfeng Duan.

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Liu, L., Liu, Y. & Duan, X. Graphene-based vertical thin film transistors. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 63, 201401 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-020-2806-8

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