The adopTIon of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) substrates for the

manufacturing of mainstream semiconductor products such as

microprocessors has given SOI research an unprecedented impetus. In the

past, novel transistor structures proposed by SOI scienTIsts were often

considered exoTIc and impracTIcal, but the recent success of SOI in the

field of microprocessor manufacturing has finally given this technology

the credibility and acceptance it deserves.

The classical CMOS structure is reaching its scaling limits and “end-of

roadmap”alternative devices are being investigated. Amongst the different

types of SOI devices proposed, one clearly stands out: the multigate field

effect transistor (multigate FET). This device has a general “wire-like”

shape with a gate electrode that controls the flow of current between

source and drain. Multigate FETs are commonly referred to as “multi(ple)-

gate transistors”, “wrapped-gate transistors”, “double-gate transistors”,

“FinFETs”, “tri(ple)-gate transistors”, “Gate-all-Around transistors”, etc.

The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS)recognizes the importance of these devices and calls them “Advanced nonclassical

CMOS devices”.