Primary Factor Extracted for Anomalous Decline of Drain Current in Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors.

A statistical approach has been exploratively applied to extract an influential factor of anomalous decreases in drain current observed in metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors with large channel widths. Since negative slopes were detected in drain current vs drain voltage (I_d–V_ds) curves even with negligible heat quantity or density, the self-heating effect was excluded as the primary factor. In contrast, the aspect ratio of the device areas showed a significant influence. These results support the validity of a hypothesis, namely, that acoustic standing waves are excited and thereby the probabilities of impact ionizations are synchronously magnified in the devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]