Hysteretic inverter-on-a-body-tied-wire based on less-than-10mV/decade abrupt punch-through impact ionization MOS (PIMOS) switch

This work reports for the first time on a cascadable NMOS inverter based on punch-through impact ionization MOSFET (PIMOS) integrated on a single body-tied silicon wire. The PIMOS device acts as a single-transistor-latch and shows abrupt current switching (3-10 mV/dec.) as well as hysteresis in both ID(VDS) and ID(VGS). An inverter gain as high as -80 and a 300 mV hysteresis width in the transfer characteristics are reported at room temperature. Temperature stability of the devices up to 125degC and operation for more than 104 cycles without significant degradation are demonstrated, much beyond the performances of previously reported I-MOS device.