ABSTRACT
This chapter explores advances in top-down semiconductor nanowires as nanoelectronics devices. It introduces basic nanowire field-effect transistor structures developed for advanced complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology nodes and reviews electrical characteristics of unstrained- and strained-silicon (Si) and Silicon-germanium (SiGe) nanowire (NW) transistors. The chapter is organized in three parts covering, respectively, the fabrication of semiconductor nanowires (NWs), their electronic transport properties for advanced CMOS, and other non-exhaustive applications. It shows that NWs can be also considered as ultrasensitive nanosensors for detecting a wide range of gases, chemicals, and biomedical species. Most of the results presented in the chapter are achieved from NW devices realized by a top-down approach, even though the bottom-up technique will be briefly described with some examples of applications. Indeed, the vapour–liquid–solid (VLS) mechanism usually employed for a bottom-up approach uses metallic clusters as the nucleation site. Nanoelectromechanical systems devices considered in the chapter are nanofabricated mechanical resonators.
