Measuring the Capacitance of Individual Semiconductor Nanowires for Carrier Mobility Assessment

Capacitance-voltage characteristics of individual germanium nanowire field effect transistors were directly measured and used to assess carrier mobility in nanowires for the first time; thereby removing uncertainties in calculated mobility due to device geometries, surface and interface states and gate dielectric constants and thicknesses. Direct experimental evidence showed that surround-gated nanowire transistors exhibit higher capacitance and better electrostatic gate control than top-gated devices, and are the most promising structure for future high performance nanoelectronics.