3 February 2022

MOSFET vs FinFET

Despite belonging to the same transistor family, FinFET and MOSFET are constructed differently and have different levels of scalability. Let us take a closer look at these two-transistor to better understand the differences between FinFET and MOSFET.

What is MOSFET?

The term MOSFET in full form is Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor-Field-Effect-Transistor. MOSFET is one type of power transistor device mostly used in VLSI circuits, CMOS digital circuits, microprocessors, memory devices, etc.

Learn more about NMOS vs CMOS

What is FinFET?

FinFET stands for the fin-shaped field-effect transistor. A FinFET is a type of transistor. It is both an amplifier and a switch because it is a transistor home computer, laptops, tablets, smartphones, wearables, high-end networks, automotive and other device are among its applications. FinFET is a nonplanar device, which means it is not limited to a single plane. It is also known as 3D because it has a third dimension.

Difference between MOSFET and FinFET:

Drive strength:

The drive strength of a planner MOSFET is determined by the channel width, whereas the drive strength of a FinFET can be increased by incorporating multiple or longer fins.

Speed:

Fast switching times in FinFET can be attributed to a higher drive current. otherwise, three-dimensional FinFET is a high-speed device when compared to planar MOSFETs.

Construction

FinFET technology makes it simple to create multi-gate devices. In MOSFET planner construction makes multi-gate construction difficult.

Leakage current

In switching devices, leakage power is caused by leakage current and leakage voltage. FinFET has a low leakage current, its power consumption is lower than that of MOSFET.

Leakage power

The length of the gate has a significant impact on reducing leakage current as a result of leakage power. FinFET has sufficient gate length because the gate is wrapped around the drain-source channel, and there is no leakage current when the gate is not energized.

Scalable

A large number of transistors can be housed on a single chip. FinFET technology is suitable for IC fabrication because it is more scalable per footprint area than MOSFET.

Applications

Channel doping is commonly used in planar MOSFET to improve short-channel behavior. Channel doping in FinFET is due to optional due to the wrap-around gate over the thin body, there are dopant-induced fluctuations in FinFETs.

Size

Transistor shrinks as chips are reduced in size, because of this compactness, the drain and source are closer together, and the gate control over the channel carries is reduced. This type of short channel effect has the potential to cause serious problems in MOSFET.

Outperforms planar 

FinFET outperforms planar MOSFET in terms of subthreshold slope and voltage gain.