Junctionless Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistors as Gas Nanosensors for Low-Power Environment Monitoring Applications

Abstract

In this paper, the role of junctionless (JL) paradigm in boosting the gas sensing performance of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs) is investigated. The gas-induced work function modulation is adopted as gas sensing principle. The computational study uses the non-equilibrium Green’s function simulation. The considered sensing metric is the ratio of change in drain current. It has been found that the CNTFET-based gas nanosensor exhibits improved sensitivity in subthreshold regime, which is very beneficial for ultra-low power gas sensing applications. A sensitivity analysis has also been performed while revealing the sensitivity trends versus the change in different gas nanosensor parameters. More importantly, the consideration of junctionless paradigm, which is beneficial in terms of simplifying the fabrication processes, is found efficient in improving the subthreshold sensitivity. The obtained results indicate that the JL CNTFET-based gas nanosensors can serve the cutting edge gas sensing applications.