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Simulation-based Study of Super-Nernstian pH Sensor Based on Doping-less Tunnel-field Effect Transistor

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Abstract

In this work, we have simulated doping less tunneling field-effect transistor (DL-TFET) based pH sensor which can detect the pH variation in an aqueous (electrolyte) medium. The source-sided underlapped technique is employed to achieve better sensitivity. The simulated results were extracted with the help of the software package TCAD-Silvaco. In this work, we have compared the pH sensing capabilities of both conventionally doped TFET (C-TFET) and DL-TFET having the same configuration. Result suggests that the sensitivity of DL-TFET is equal to that of C-TFET. Since DL-TFET already exhibits superiority over C-TFET in terms of better immunity against random doping fluctuations (RDF), low fabrication cost and complexity, it can be used as a better alternative to C-TFET based ISFETs. Furthermore, in this work, we have discussed and demonstrated how the performance and sensitivity of the DL-TFET device can be further increased by the use of low energy band materials like germanium in the source region and high K dielectric materials like Al2O3 as a sensitive oxide layer underneath the underlapped region. The voltage sensitivity achieved by DL-TFET in this work is 312 mV/pH which surpasses the Nernst limits by more than 5 times.

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India

    Zuber Rasool, S. Intekhab Amin, Lubna Majeed, Ishrat Bashir & Anjar Seraj

  2. Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India

    Sunny Anand

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  1. Zuber Rasool
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  2. S. Intekhab Amin
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  3. Lubna Majeed
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  5. Anjar Seraj
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Contributions

Zuber Rasool: Simulation, Computation, TCAD software and Writing – Original draft preparation.

S. Intekhab Amin: Conceptualization, Computation, TCAD software, Revision, Supervision, and Validation.

Lubna Majeed: Computation, TCAD software Simulation and Writing.

Ishrat Bashir: Simulation and Writing.

Anjar Seraj: Computation and simulation.

Sunny Anand: revision, Supervision, and Validation.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Intekhab Amin.

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Rasool, Z., Amin, S.I., Majeed, L. et al. Simulation-based Study of Super-Nernstian pH Sensor Based on Doping-less Tunnel-field Effect Transistor. Silicon 15, 4285–4296 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02329-2

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