Steep-Slope Transistors Based on Chiral Graphene Nanoribbons With Intrinsic Cold Source

Steep-slope switching is effective to reduce the required energy for switching, however, at least 60 mV of gate voltage is required to modulate the current by an order of magnitude at room temperature. In this article, a numerical study of cold-source transistors based on chiral graphene nanoribbons (CGNRs) is presented. In cold-source transistors, the high-energy electrons are filtered out to break the room-temperature limitation, which can be realized by using CGNRs with narrow density of states (DOS) distribution. Our numerical results indicate that CGNR transistors can achieve sub-60 mv/decade subthreshold swing and similar ON-state current to conventional transistor. Moreover, the effect of the DOS distribution of CGNRs on the transport characteristics is investigated. This work provides a potential option for low-power electron devices and provides guidance for the design of cold-source transistors.