The Charge Plasma P-N Diode

A simulation study on a new rectifier concept is presented. This device basically consists of two gates with different workfunctions on top of a thin intrinsic or lowly doped silicon body. The workfunctions and layer thicknesses are chosen such that an electron plasma is formed on one side of the silicon body and a hole plasma on the other, i.e., a charge plasma p-n diode is formed in which no doping is required. Simulation results reveal a good rectifying behavior for well-chosen gate workfunctions and device dimensions. This concept could be applied for other semiconductor devices and materials as well in which doping is an issue.