Moore's law: new playground for quantum physics

Abstract

Dedicated to Professor Jozef T. Devreese on the occasion of his 65th birthday PACS 05.60.Gg, 85.30.Tv CMOS technology has been proven as one of the most important achievements in modern engineering history. In less than 30 years, it has become the primary engine driving the world economy. Device scaling makes this possible. For decades, progress in device scaling has followed an exponential curve: this has come to be known as Moore's law. Downscaling such devices like MOSFETs to their limiting sizes is a key challenge of the semiconductor industry now. Therefore device simulation requires new theory and modeling techniques, what helps to improve the understanding of device physics and design, for structures at the sub-100 nm scale, and complements experimental work in addressing this challenge. We present a new approach, which allows us to make predictions about performance of future MOSFETs. The quantum-mechanical features of the electron transport are extracted from the numerical solution of the quantum Liouville equation in the Wigner function representation.1 Introduction Ever since the first observation of the Quantum Hall Effect in MOS inversion layers [1], it has been known that a MOS transistor can display quantum properties. But quantum MOS structures were soon overshadowed by the spectacular progress in the fabrication of epitaxial layers, which for many years established semiconductor heterostructures as the most popular man-made quantum objects. During this period, the MOSFET was relegated to the practical playgrounds of microelectronics engineering, whereas heterostructure devices raised considerable excitement in the physics community. In the last decade however, a remarkable change of perspective has taken place, and the MOSFET has been gradually reintroduced into the realm of physics, drawing attention from theorists and experimentalists alike. Much of this is the result of "Moore's law", a complex technological and industrial process thanks to which the semiconductor industry has enjoyed exponential growth over a prolonged period. The main physical impact of this law is the relentless downscaling of transistors and interconnects, which are now entering the nanometer regime. This fast evolution has raised concern over the soundness