A semiconductor device of band-to-band tunneling type including a silicon substrate, a first gate electrode formed by a highly doped surface region of the silicon substrate, a first silicon oxide film formed on a surface of the surface region, a silicon thin film formed on the first silicon oxide film, a second silicon oxide film formed on a surface of the thin silicon film, and a second gate electrode formed by a metal film applied on a surface of the second silicon oxide film. In the thin silicon film, there are formed P and N type regions side by side to constitute a PN junction. When a gate bias voltage is applied across the first and second gate electrodes, a band bend having a large height and inclination in a direction perpendicular to the thin silicon film is produced in the depletion region in the vicinity of the PN junction. Minority carriers brought up from the valence band into the conduction band by tunneling due to the band bend are conducted through the PN junction under the influence of a reverse bias voltage applied across the PN junction. The band bend can be made large at will by increasing the gate bias voltage, so that it is possible to obtain a large tunneling current.
16 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets
