High-temperature characteristics of zone-melting recrystallized silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs

The characteristics of enhancement-mode MOS transistors fabricated on zone-melting recrystallized (ZMR) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) films were systematically experimentally investigated in the temperature range 25–300°C. The main temperature-dependent parameters (the threshold voltage, the channel mobility, subthreshold slope, off-state leakage currents) of ZMR SOI MOSFETs are described and compared with both theory and SIMOX devices. It is shown that high carrier mobilities and low off-state leakage currents can be obtained in thin-film ZMR SOI MOSFETs at elevated temperatures. At T = 300°C, far beyond the operating range of bulk silicon devices, the off-state leakage current in ZMR SOI MOSFETs with a 0.15 mm-thick silicon film was only 0.5 nA/mm (for VD = 3 V), that is 3–4 orders of magnitude lower than typical values in bulk Si devices. The presented results demonstrate that CMOS devices fabricated on sufficiently thin ZMR SOI films are well suited for high-temperature applications.