Transconductance enhancement in deep submicron strained-Si n-MOSFETs

We report the first measurements on deep submicron strained-Si n-MOSFETs. In spite of the high channel doping and vertical effective fields, electron mobility is enhanced by similar to 75% compared to typical MOSFET mobilities. The extrinsic transconductance is increased by similar to 45% for channel lengths of 0.1 mu m, when AC measurements are used to reduce self-heating effects. The improved transconductance demonstrates the use of strain-induced enhancements in both mobility and high-field transport to increase the average electron velocity, while maintaining the channel doping required to suppress short channel effects.