Investigation of floating body effects in silicon-on-insulator metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

An analytical model and experimental results are proposed to account for the floating body effects in SOI (silicon-on-insulator) MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors). The model enables a quantitative description of hysteresis effects in the static characteristics and shows a strong correlation between the conductance and transconductance. It is demonstrated that an SOI MOSFET may exhibit both a negative conductance and a negative transconductance. A short-channel device may be biased in such a way that a critical phenomenon, comparable to a second-order phase transition, takes place. The major parameters and applications of these critical effects are described in detail.