6. SOI-MOSFETs

Continuing the onward advancement from where the classical MOSFET failed to meet the expectations of Moore’s law, it was widely accepted that novel MOSFET structures were direly needed in order that the pace of the progress is not slackened. It was also evident that short-channel effects could only be obviated if the gate action could be strengthened so that the channel region is always under the solitary control of the gate. The advent of silicon-on-insulator technology came as a breakthrough to rescue the CMOS engineers. First partially-depleted silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs entered the market followed by the fully-depleted MOSFET devices. The fully-depleted MOSFETs represent a cornerstone of technological transformation leading to downscaling to lower levels.