Dual-material gate (DMG) field effect transistor

A generic new type of field effect transistor (FET), the dual material gate (DMG) FET, is proposed and demonstrated. The gate of the DMGFET consists of two laterally contacting materials with different work functions. This novel gate structure takes advantage of material work function difference in such a way that the threshold voltage near the source is more positive than that near the drain (for n-channel FET, the opposite for p-channel FET), resulting in a more rapid acceleration of charge carriers in the channel and a screening effect to suppress short-channel effects. Using the heterostructure FET as a vehicle, the principle, computer simulation results, design guidelines, processing, and characterization of the DMGFET are discussed in detail.