  The latest field-effect transistors are entering the regime where quantum
effects within the conduction channel can play a significant role because of
the increasingly reduced dimensions. We investigate the effects of quantized
states in conduction channels in transistors with dimensions close to those
presently used. We use the standard configuration of Si-based
metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), as a simplified
model to provide an estimate of the effect of quantization with respect to the
dimensions of the conduction channel. The study shows simulated results of
drain currents for various combinations of dimensions, in which distinguishable
current levels as a function of the applied gate bias can be obtained at room
temperature. The same qualitative dependence on dimensions is expected to apply
to the state-of-the-art transistor architectures with dimensions near this
range, such as fin field-effect transistors (FinFETs) and gate-all-around
field-effect transistors (GAAFETs). The results show that utilizing quantized
states in the conduction channel for multinary computation has become a
possibility with their present dimensions.
