Efficient Temperature Sensor Based on SOI Gate-All-Around Electrostatically Formed Nanowire Transistor

Abstract

Electrostatically formed nanowire (EFN) transistor is a majority carrier silicon-on-insulator (SOI) device, operated in the depletion mode, with the conducting channel size and position modulated by surrounding gates. When operated in the subthreshold regime, the EFN transistor is an efficient temperature sensor. We present a novel EFN transistor design with a top gate, named gate-all-around EFN (GAA EFN), allowing increased temperature sensitivity. The new design enables the formation of the EFN conductive channel in the volume of the SOI device layer, far from the top and bottom silicon/oxide interfaces, thus reducing the noise level and increasing the temperature sensitivity to 13.3%/K.