Novel Graphene Adjustable-Barrier Transistor with Ultra-High Current Gain

A graphene-based three-terminal barristor device was proposed to overcome the low on/off ratios and insufficient current saturation of conventional graphene field-effect transistors. In this study, we fabricated and analyzed a novel graphene-based transistor, which resembles the structure of the barristor but uses a different operating condition. This new device, termed graphene adjustable-barriers transistor (GABT), utilizes a semiconductor-based gate rather than a metal–insulator gate structure to modulate the device currents. The key feature of the device is the two graphene-semiconductor Schottky barriers with different heights that are controlled simultaneously by the gate voltage. Due to the asymmetry of the barriers, the drain current exceeds the gate current by several orders of magnitude. Thus, the GABT can be considered an amplifier with an alterable current gain. In this work, a silicon–graphene–germanium GABT with an ultra-high current gain (ID/IG up to 8 × 106) was fabricated, and the device functionality was demonstrated. Additionally, a capacitance model is applied to predict the theoretical device performance resulting in an on–off ratio above 106, a swing of 87 mV/dec, and a drive current of about 1 × 106 A/cm2.