Field-effect transistor: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:18, 11 February 2025

Revision as of 22:50, 8 March 2025

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[[File:Julius Edgar Lilienfeld (1881-1963).jpg|thumb|144px|[[Julius Edgar Lilienfeld]], who proposed the concept of a field-effect transistor in 1925.]]

The concept of a field-effect transistor (FET) was first patented by the Austro-Hungarian born physicist [[Julius Edgar Lilienfeld]] in 1925<ref>Lilienfeld, J.E. [https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=01745175 "Method and apparatus for controlling electric current"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409014726/https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=01745175 |date=2022-04-09 }} US Patent no. 1,745,175 (filed: 8 October 1926 ; issued: 28 January 1930).</ref> and by [[Oskar Heil]] in 1934, but they were unable to build a working practical [[semiconductor device|semiconducting device]] based on the concept. The [[transistor]] effect was later observed and explained by [[John Bardeen]] and [[Walter Houser Brattain]] while working under [[William Shockley]] at [[Bell Labs]] in 1947, shortly after the 17-year patent expired. Shockley initially attempted to build a working FET by trying to modulate the conductivity of a [[semiconductor]], but was unsuccessful, mainly due to problems with the [[surface states]], the [[dangling bond]], and the [[germanium]] and [[copper]] compound materials. In the course of trying to understand the mysterious reasons behind their failure to build a working FET, it led to Bardeen and Brattain instead inventing the [[point-contact transistor]] in 1947, which was followed by Shockley's [[bipolar junction transistor]] in 1948.<ref name="Lee">{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Thomas H. |title=The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits |date=2003 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-139-64377-1 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/class/archive/ee/ee214/ee214.1032/Handouts/HO2.pdf |access-date=2019-07-20 |archive-date=2019-12-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209032130/https://web.stanford.edu/class/archive/ee/ee214/ee214.1032/Handouts/HO2.pdf }}</ref><ref name="Puers">{{cite book |last1=Puers |first1=Robert |last2=Baldi |first2=Livio |last3=Voorde |first3=Marcel Van de |last4=Nooten |first4=Sebastiaan E. van |title=Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Applications, 2 Volumes |date=2017 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-3-527-34053-8 |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JOqVDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA14}}</ref>

The first FET device to be successfully built was the [[junction field-effect transistor]] (JFET).<ref name="Lee"/> A JFET was first patented by [[Heinrich Welker]] in 1945.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Physics of Semiconductors|author=Grundmann, Marius|isbn=978-3-642-13884-3 |publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=2010}}</ref> The [[static induction transistor]] (SIT), a type of JFET with a short channel, was invented by Japanese engineers [[Jun-ichi Nishizawa]] and Y. Watanabe in 1950. Following Shockley's theoretical treatment on the JFET in 1952, a working practical JFET was built by [[George C. Dacey]] and [[Ian Munro Ross|Ian M. Ross]] in 1953.<ref name=sit>{{cite book|first=Jun-Ichi |last=Nishizawa|editor-first1=Roland|editor-last1=Sittig|editor-first2=P.|editor-last2=Roggwiller|publisher=Springer|chapter=Junction Field-Effect Devices|title=Semiconductor Devices for Power Conditioning|year=1982|pages=241–272|doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-7263-9_11|isbn=978-1-4684-7265-3}}</ref> However, the JFET still had issues affecting [[junction transistor]]s in general.<ref name="Moskowitz">{{cite book |last1=Moskowitz |first1=Sanford L. |title=Advanced Materials Innovation: Managing Global Technology in the 21st century |date=2016 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-0-470-50892-3 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2STRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA168}}</ref> Junction transistors were relatively bulky devices that were difficult to manufacture on a [[mass-production]] basis, which limited them to a number of specialised applications. The insulated-gate field-effect transistor (IGFET) was theorized as a potential alternative to junction transistors, but researchers were unable to build working IGFETs, largely due to the troublesome surface state barrier that prevented the external [[electric field]] from penetrating into the material.<ref name="Moskowitz"/> By the mid-1950s, researchers had largely given up on the FET concept, and instead focused on [[bipolar junction transistor]] (BJT) technology.<ref name="triumph">{{cite web |title=The Foundation of Today's Digital World: The Triumph of the MOS Transistor |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6fBEjf9WPw |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=21 July 2019 |date=13 July 2010}}</ref>

The foundations of MOSFET technology were laid down by the work of [[William Shockley]], [[John Bardeen]] and [[Walter Brattain]]. Shockley independently envisioned the FET concept in 1945, but he was unable to build a working device. The next year Bardeen explained his failure in terms of [[surface states]]. Bardeen applied the theory of surface states on semiconductors (previous work on surface states was done by Shockley in 1939 and [[Igor Tamm]] in 1932) and realized that the external field was blocked at the surface because of extra electrons which are drawn to the semiconductor surface. Electrons become trapped in those localized states forming an inversion layer. Bardeen's hypothesis marked the birth of [[Surface_scienceSurface science#Physics|surface physics]]. Bardeen then decided to make use of an inversion layer instead of the very thin layer of semiconductor which Shockley had envisioned in his FET designs. Based on his theory, in 1948 Bardeen patented the progenitor of MOSFET, an insulated-gate FET (IGFET) with an inversion layer. The inversion layer confines the flow of minority carriers, increasing modulation and conductivity, although its electron transport depends on the gate's insulator or quality of oxide if used as an insulator, deposited above the inversion layer. Bardeen's patent as well as the concept of an inversion layer forms the basis of CMOS technology today. In 1976 Shockley described Bardeen's surface state hypothesis "as one of the most significant research ideas in the semiconductor program".<ref name="b1">{{cite book | author=Howard R. Duff | title=AIP Conference Proceedings | chapter=John Bardeen and transistor physics | date=2001 | volume=550 | pages=3–32 | doi=10.1063/1.1354371 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

After Bardeen's surface state theory the trio tried to overcome the effect of surface states. In late 1947, Robert Gibney and Brattain suggested the use of electrolyte placed between metal and semiconductor to overcome the effects of surface states. Their FET device worked, but amplification was poor. Bardeen went further and suggested to rather focus on the conductivity of the inversion layer. Further experiments led them to replace electrolyte with a solid oxide layer in the hope of getting better results. Their goal was to penetrate the oxide layer and get to the inversion layer. However, Bardeen suggested they switch from [[silicon]] to [[germanium]] and in the process their oxide got inadvertently washed off. They stumbled upon a completely different transistor, the [[point-contact transistor]]. [[Lillian Hoddeson]] argues that "had Brattain and Bardeen been working with silicon instead of germanium they would have stumbled across a successful field effect transistor".<ref name="b1" /><ref name="Camezind">{{cite book | author=Hans Camenzind | author-link=Hans Camenzind | title=Designing Analog Chips | date=2005 | url=http://www.designinganalogchips.com/}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=ULSI Science and Technology/1997 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=I8_O1anzKpsC | date=1997 |

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By the end of the first half of the 1950s, following theoretical and experimental work of Bardeen, Brattain, Kingston, Morrison and others, it became more clear that there were two types of surface states. Fast surface states were found to be associated with the bulk and a semiconductor/oxide interface. Slow surface states were found to be associated with the oxide layer because of [[adsorption]] of atoms, molecules and ions by the oxide from the ambient. The latter were found to be much more numerous and to have much longer [[relaxation (physics)|relaxation time]]s. At the time [[Philo Farnsworth]] and others came up with various methods of producing atomically clean semiconductor surfaces.

In 1955, [[Carl Frosch]] and Lincoln Derrick accidentally covered the surface of silicon [[wafer (electronics)|wafer]] with a layer of [[silicon dioxide]].<ref name="patents.google.com">{{Cite patent|number=US2802760A|title=Oxidation of semiconductive surfaces for controlled diffusion|gdate=1957-08-13|invent1=Lincoln|invent2=Frosch|inventor1-first=Derick|inventor2-first=Carl J.|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2802760A}}</ref> They showed that oxide layer prevented certain dopants into the silicon wafer, while allowing for others, thus discovering the [[Passivation (chemistry)|passivating]] effect of [[Thermal oxidation|oxidation]] on the semiconductor surface. Their further work demonstrated how to etch small openings in the oxide layer to diffuse dopants into selected areas of the silicon wafer. In 1957, they published a research paper and patented their technique summarizing their work. The technique they developed is known as oxide diffusion masking, which would later be used in the [[semiconductor device fabrication|fabrication]] of MOSFET devices.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149/1.2428650}}</ref> At Bell Labs, the importance of Frosch's technique was immediately realized. Results of their work circulated around Bell Labs in the form of BTL memos before being published in 1957. At [[Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory|Shockley Semiconductor]], Shockley had circulated the preprint of their article in December 1956 to all his senior staff, including [[Jean Hoerni]].<ref name="Moskowitz" /><ref>{{cite book |author1=Christophe Lécuyer |author2=David C. Brook |author3=Jay Last | title=Makers of the Microchip: A Documentary History of Fairchild Semiconductor | date=2010 | pages=62–63 |publisher=MIT Press | isbn=978-0-262-01424-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LaZpUpkG70QC&pg=PA62}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Claeys |first1=Cor L. |title=ULSI Process Integration III: Proceedings of the International Symposium |date=2003 |publisher=[[The Electrochemical Society]] |isbn=978-1-56677-376-8 |pages=27–30 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bu22JNYbE5MC&pg=PA27}}</ref>

In 1955, [[Ian Munro Ross]] filed a patent for a [[FeFET]] or MFSFET. Its structure was like that of a modern inversion channel MOSFET, but ferroelectric material was used as a dielectric/insulator instead of oxide. He envisioned it as a form of memory, years before the [[floating gate MOSFET]]. In February 1957, [[J. Torkel Wallmark|John Wallmark]] filed a patent for [[thin-film transistor|FET]] in which [[germanium monoxide]] was used as a gate dielectric, but he didn't pursue the idea. In his other patent filed the same year he described a [[multigate device|double gate]] FET. In March 1957, in his laboratory notebook, Ernesto Labate, a research scientist at [[Bell Labs]], conceived of a device similar to the later proposed MOSFET, although Labate's device didn't explicitly use [[silicon dioxide]] as an insulator.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lojek |first1=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-540-34258-8 |page=324}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Stefan Ferdinand Müller | title=Development of HfO2-Based Ferroelectric Memories for Future CMOS Technology Nodes | year=2016 | publisher=BoD – Books on Demand | isbn=978-3-7392-4894-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=B.G Lowe |author2=R.A. Sareen | title=Semiconductor X-Ray Detectors | date=2013 |publisher=CRC Press | isbn=978-1-4665-5401-6 }}</ref><ref name="Bassett22">{{cite book |last1=Bassett |first1=Ross Knox |title=To the Digital Age: Research Labs, Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology |date=2007 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8639-3 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUbB3d2UnaAC&pg=PA22}}</ref>

In 1955, [[Carl Frosch]] and Lincoln Derrick accidentally grew a layer of silicon dioxide over the silicon wafer, for which they observed [[surface passivation]] effects.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Huff |first1=Howard |last2=Riordan |first2=Michael |date=2007-09-01 |title=Frosch and Derick: Fifty Years Later (Foreword) |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/2.F02073IF |journal=The Electrochemical Society Interface |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=29 |doi=10.1149/2.F02073IF |issn=1064-8208}}</ref><ref>{{Cite patent|numbername=US2802760A|title=Oxidation of semiconductive surfaces for controlled diffusion|gdate=1957-08-13|invent1=Lincoln|invent2=Frosch|inventor1-first=Derick|inventor2-first=Carl J.|url=https://"patents.google.com"/patent/US2802760A}}</ref> By 1957 Frosch and Derrick, using masking and predeposition, were able to manufacture silicon dioxide transistors and showed that silicon dioxide insulated, protected silicon wafers and prevented dopants from diffusing into the wafer.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1name=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https"://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149"/1.2428650}}</ref> J.R. Ligenza and W.G. Spitzer studied the mechanism of thermally grown oxides and fabricated a high quality Si/[[Silicon dioxide|SiO₂]] stack in 1960.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ligenza |first1=J. R. |last2=Spitzer |first2=W. G. |date=1960-07-01 |title=The mechanisms for silicon oxidation in steam and oxygen |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0022369760902195 |journal=Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids |volume=14 |pages=131–136 |doi=10.1016/0022-3697(60)90219-5 |bibcode=1960JPCS...14..131L |issn=0022-3697}}</ref><ref name="Deal">{{cite book |last1=Deal |first1=Bruce E. |title=Silicon materials science and technology |date=1998 |publisher=[[The Electrochemical Society]] |isbn=978-1566771931 |page=183 |chapter=Highlights Of Silicon Thermal Oxidation Technology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cr8FPGkiRS0C&pg=PA183}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lojek |first1=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3540342588 |page=322}}</ref>

===Metal-oxide-semiconductor FET (MOSFET)===

{{Main|MOSFET}}

[[File:1957(Figure_9)-Gate_oxide_transistor_by_Frosch_and_Derrick.png|thumb|310x310px|1957, Diagram of one of the SiO2 transistor devices made by Frosch and Derrick<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149/1.2428650}}</ref>]]

In 1955, [[Carl Frosch]] and Lincoln Derrick accidentally grew a layer of silicon dioxide over the silicon wafer, for which they observed [[surface passivation]] effects.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Huff |first1=Howard |last2=Riordan |first2=Michael |date=2007-09-01 |title=Frosch and Derick: Fifty Years Later (Foreword) |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/2.F02073IF |journal=The Electrochemical Society Interface |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=29 |doi=10.1149/2.F02073IF |issn=1064-8208}}</ref><ref>{{Cite patent|number=US2802760A|title=Oxidation of semiconductive surfaces for controlled diffusion|gdate=1957-08-13|invent1=Lincoln|invent2=Frosch|inventor1-first=Derick|inventor2-first=Carl J.|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2802760A}}</ref> By 1957 Frosch and Derrick, using masking and predeposition, were able to manufacture silicon dioxide transistors and showed that silicon dioxide insulated, protected silicon wafers and prevented dopants from diffusing into the wafer.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149/1.2428650}}</ref> J.R. Ligenza and W.G. Spitzer studied the mechanism of thermally grown oxides and fabricated a high quality Si/[[Silicon dioxide|SiO₂]] stack in 1960.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ligenza |first1=J. R. |last2=Spitzer |first2=W. G. |date=1960-07-01 |title=The mechanisms for silicon oxidation in steam and oxygen |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0022369760902195 |journal=Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids |volume=14 |pages=131–136 |doi=10.1016/0022-3697(60)90219-5 |bibcode=1960JPCS...14..131L |issn=0022-3697}}</ref><ref name="Deal">{{cite book |last1=Deal |first1=Bruce E. |title=Silicon materials science and technology |date=1998 |publisher=[[The Electrochemical Society]] |isbn=978-1566771931 |page=183 |chapter=Highlights Of Silicon Thermal Oxidation Technology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cr8FPGkiRS0C&pg=PA183}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lojek |first1=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3540342588 |page=322}}</ref>

Following this research, [[Mohamed Atalla]] and [[Dawon Kahng]] proposed a silicon MOS transistor in 1959<ref name="Bassett222">{{cite book |last1=Bassett |first1=Ross Knox |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUbB3d2UnaAC&pg=PA22 |title=To the Digital Age: Research Labs, Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology |date=2007 |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8018-8639-3 |pages=22–23}}</ref> and successfully demonstrated a working MOS device with their Bell Labs team in 1960.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Atalla |first1=M. |author1-link=Mohamed Atalla |last2=Kahng |first2=D. |author2-link=Dawon Kahng |date=1960 |title=Silicon-silicon dioxide field induced surface devices |journal=IRE-AIEE Solid State Device Research Conference}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=1960 – Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Transistor Demonstrated |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/metal-oxide-semiconductor-mos-transistor-demonstrated/ |journal=The Silicon Engine |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=2023-01-16}}</ref> Their team included E. E. LaBate and E. I. Povilonis who fabricated the device; M. O. Thurston, L. A. D’Asaro, and J. R. Ligenza who developed the diffusion processes, and H. K. Gummel and R. Lindner who characterized the device.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=KAHNG |first=D. |date=1961 |title=Silicon-Silicon Dioxide Surface Device |url=https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814503464_0076 |journal=Technical Memorandum of Bell Laboratories|pages=583–596 |doi=10.1142/9789814503464_0076 |isbn=978-981-02-0209-5 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lojek |first=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-34258-8 |___location=Berlin, Heidelberg |page=321}}</ref>