The adoption of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) substrates for the
manufacturing of mainstream semiconductor products such as
microprocessors has given SOI research an unprecedented impetus. In the
past, novel transistor structures proposed by SOI scientists were often
considered exotic and impractical, but the recent success of SOI in the
field of microprocessor manufacturing has finally given this technology
the credibility and acceptance it deserves.
The classical CMOS structure is reaching its scaling limits and “end-of
roadmap”alternative devices are being investigated. Amongst the different
types of SOI devices proposed, one clearly stands out: the multigate field
effect transistor (multigate FET). This device has a general “wire-like”
shape with a gate electrode that controls the flow of current between
source and drain. Multigate FETs are commonly referred to as “multi(ple)-
gate transistors”, “wrapped-gate transistors”, “double-gate transistors”,
“FinFETs”, “tri(ple)-gate transistors”, “Gate-all-Around transistors”, etc.
The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS)recognizes the importance of these devices and calls them “Advanced nonclassical
CMOS devices”.