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Complementary FET (CFET)

Complementary FET, a new type of vertical transistor.
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Description

Slated for 2.5nm and beyond, complementary FET (CFET) is a more complex version of a gate-all-around device. Traditional gate-all-around FETs stack several p-type wires on top of each other. In a separate device, the transistor stacks n-type wires on each other.

In CFETs, the idea is to stack both nFET and pFET wires on each other. A CFET could stack one nFET on top of a pFET wire, or two nFETs on top of two pFET wires. This ‘folding’ of the nFET and pFET eliminates the n-to-p separation bottleneck, reducing the cell active area footprint.

Since a CFET stacks both n- and p-type devices on each other, the transistor provides some benefits. The main benefit is area. In terms of electrostatic control, CFET would be the same as a normal nanowire. Both are gate-all-around architectures.