Gate-controlled donor activation in silicon nanowires

Due to the proximity to an embedding medium with low dielectric constant (e.g., oxides), semiconductor nanowires have higher impurity ionization energy than their bulk counterparts, resulting lower free carrier density. Using ab initio calculations within density functional theory, we propose a way to reduce the ionization energy in nanowires by fabricating a special cross section with appropriate engineering of doping and an applied gate voltage. We demonstrate on a phosphorus-doped silicon nanowire that the ionization energy can be effectively tuned and the impurity backscattering can also be reduced. For instance, even without special engineering of doping, the free carrier density may increase by 40% in a silicon nanowire with 15 nm diameter and special cross section. Our proposal has profound implications to fabricate nanowire devices with high carrier density.