Analysis of Off-State Leakage Current Characteristics and Mechanisms of Nanoscale MOSFETs with a High-k Gate Dielectric

The off-state leakage current characteristics of nanoscale channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with a high-k gate dielectric are thoroughly investigated. The off-state leakage current can be divided into three components: the gate leakage current, the source leakage current, and the substrate leakage current. The influences of the fringing-induced barrier lowering effect and the drain-induced barrier lowering effect on each component are investigated separately. For nanoscale devices with high-k gates, the source leakage current becomes the major component of the off-state leakage current.