Nanowire transistor with source and drain induced by electrical contacts with negative Schottky barrier height

1. A fin field-effect transistor (finFET), comprising:

a semiconductor fin disposed on a substrate, wherein the fin has two major faces and a longitudinal length of the fin comprises:

an undoped channel region of a first semiconductor material;

an undoped semiconductor source region electrically coupled with a first end of the channel region;

an undoped semiconductor drain region electrically coupled with a second end of the channel region;

a gate stack comprising a gate insulator and a gate conductor wrapping around at least two sides of the channel region;

a source stack comprising a first interfacial layer and a source conductor wrapping around at least two sides of the semiconductor source region and extending along at least a portion of the semiconductor source region; and

a drain stack comprising a second interfacial layer and a drain conductor wrapping around at least two sides of the semiconductor drain region and extending along at least a portion of the semiconductor drain region,

wherein a Schottky barrier between the source conductor and the semiconductor source region is a negative Schottky barrier causing a concentration of free carriers to be induced in the semiconductor source region.

2. The finFET of claim 1 , wherein a Schottky barrier between the drain conductor and the semiconductor drain region is a negative Schottky barrier and a concentration of free carriers is induced in the semiconductor drain region.

3. The finFET of claim 1 , wherein the fin has a thickness as measured between the two major faces of 12 nm or less.

4. The finFET of claim 1 , wherein the free charge carriers induced in the semiconductor source region are electrons.

5. The finFET of claim 1 , wherein the free charge carriers induced in the semiconductor source region are holes.

6. The finFET of claim 1 , wherein the negative Schottky barrier between the source conductor and the source is between −0.1 eV and −0.5 eV.

7. The finFET of claim 1 , wherein first the interfacial layer comprises a material that would be an insulator or a semiconductor in its bulk state; and wherein a conductive path is provided between the source conductor and the semiconductor source region by quantum mechanical tunneling through the first interfacial layer.

8. The finFET of claim 1 , wherein the second interfacial layer comprises a material that would be an insulator or a semiconductor in its bulk state; and wherein a conductive path is provided between the drain conductor and the semiconductor drain region by quantum mechanical tunneling through the second interfacial layer.

9. A fin field-effect transistor (finFET), comprising:

a semiconductor fin on a top surface of a substrate, the semiconductor fin including a middle section, and a first end section and a second end section on opposite ends of the middle section, the middle section, the first end section, and the second end section being undoped;

a gate dielectric layer on a top surface and sidewalls of the middle section of the semiconductor fin;

a gate electrode on the gate dielectric layer;

a first metal contact adjacent at least two sides of the first end section and providing an electrically conductive path to the first end section, and a second metal contact adjacent at least two sides of the second end section and providing an electrically conductive path to the second end section;

wherein the first metal contact induces free charge carriers in the first end section, the first metal contact is separated from the gate electrode by an insulating material layer or a gap, and the second metal contact is separated from the gate electrode by an insulating material layer or a gap.

10. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein the second metal contact induces free charge carriers in the drain.

11. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein the free charge carriers are electrons.

12. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein the free charge carriers are holes.

13. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein a Schottky barrier between the first metal contact and the first end section has a negative Schottky barrier height.

14. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein a Schottky barrier height between the first metal contact and the first end section is between −0.1 eV and −0.5 eV.

15. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein the first metal contact is displaced from the first end section by a first interface layer, and the second metal contact is displaced from the second end section by a second interface layer, the first and second interface layers each comprising a material that would be an insulator or a semiconductor in its bulk state.

16. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein a first interface layer at an interface between the first metal contact and the first end section and a second interface layer at an interface between the second metal contact and the second end section each comprise a monolayer of elements from group V or group VI and the induced free charge carriers are electrons.

17. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein a first interface layer at an interface between the first metal contact and the first end section and a second interface layer at an interface between the second metal contact and the second end section each comprise a monolayer of elements from group III and the induced free charge carriers are holes.

18. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein the middle section, the first end section, and the second end section are all comprised of the same semiconductor material.

19. The finFET of claim 18 , wherein the semiconductor material is silicon, germanium, silicon carbide, a compound semiconductor, a fullerene, or an alloy comprising two or more of silicon, germanium, carbon and tin.

20. The finFET of claim 9 , wherein the middle section, the first end section, and the second end section are not all comprised of the same semiconductor material.