Evaluation of Bulk and SOI FeFET Architecture for Non-Volatile Memory Applications

The stress induced by the capping electrode is critical to stabilizing the ferroelectric phase in Si-doped HfO<sub>2</sub> which is being actively explored for embedded non-volatile memory applications. While TiN is commonly used as the electrode of choice owing to its thermodynamic stab...

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Main Authors: Antik Mallick, Nikhil Shukla
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2019-01-01
Series:IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8672462/
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author Antik Mallick
Nikhil Shukla
author_facet Antik Mallick
Nikhil Shukla
author_sort Antik Mallick
collection DOAJ
description The stress induced by the capping electrode is critical to stabilizing the ferroelectric phase in Si-doped HfO<sub>2</sub> which is being actively explored for embedded non-volatile memory applications. While TiN is commonly used as the electrode of choice owing to its thermodynamic stability with HfO<sub>2</sub>, its work function (WF) (=4.8eV) results in reduced memory window (MW), and higher interlayer field (EIL) in bulk Ferroelectric FETs (FeFETs). This is attributed to the built-in electric-field that arises from the WF difference between the metal and the semiconductor. This effectively reduces the ferroelectric hysteresis, and thus, the MW at the read current. Optimizing the MW and the EIL would entail changing the WF, and thus, the capping electrode-essential to retaining the desired ferroelectric properties. We, therefore, propose using the silicon on insulator (SOI)-FeFET architecture which provides an additional knob-back-gate bias (V<sub>bg</sub>)-to optimize the MW while reducing the E<sub>IL</sub>. Further, we show that unlike the bulk FeFET, where a small deviation from the optimal WF dramatically shrinks the MW, the SOIFeFET facilitates a relatively constant MW over a wide range of V<sub>bg</sub>. Thus, the SOI-FeFET simplifies the MW &amp; EIL optimization and provides an improved MW versus E<sub>IL</sub> trade-off in comparison to the bulk FeFET.
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spelling doaj.art-a90fa2fd326a48f8b51e50eb10e10fb32022-12-21T22:27:31ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society2168-67342019-01-01742542910.1109/JEDS.2019.29068348672462Evaluation of Bulk and SOI FeFET Architecture for Non-Volatile Memory ApplicationsAntik Mallick0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5697-5742Nikhil Shukla1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USAThe stress induced by the capping electrode is critical to stabilizing the ferroelectric phase in Si-doped HfO<sub>2</sub> which is being actively explored for embedded non-volatile memory applications. While TiN is commonly used as the electrode of choice owing to its thermodynamic stability with HfO<sub>2</sub>, its work function (WF) (=4.8eV) results in reduced memory window (MW), and higher interlayer field (EIL) in bulk Ferroelectric FETs (FeFETs). This is attributed to the built-in electric-field that arises from the WF difference between the metal and the semiconductor. This effectively reduces the ferroelectric hysteresis, and thus, the MW at the read current. Optimizing the MW and the EIL would entail changing the WF, and thus, the capping electrode-essential to retaining the desired ferroelectric properties. We, therefore, propose using the silicon on insulator (SOI)-FeFET architecture which provides an additional knob-back-gate bias (V<sub>bg</sub>)-to optimize the MW while reducing the E<sub>IL</sub>. Further, we show that unlike the bulk FeFET, where a small deviation from the optimal WF dramatically shrinks the MW, the SOIFeFET facilitates a relatively constant MW over a wide range of V<sub>bg</sub>. Thus, the SOI-FeFET simplifies the MW &amp; EIL optimization and provides an improved MW versus E<sub>IL</sub> trade-off in comparison to the bulk FeFET.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8672462/Ferroelectric FET (FeFET)interlayer field (EIL)memory window (MW)silicon on insulator (SOI)non-volatile memory (NVM)
spellingShingle Antik Mallick
Nikhil Shukla
Evaluation of Bulk and SOI FeFET Architecture for Non-Volatile Memory Applications
IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society
Ferroelectric FET (FeFET)
interlayer field (EIL)
memory window (MW)
silicon on insulator (SOI)
non-volatile memory (NVM)
title Evaluation of Bulk and SOI FeFET Architecture for Non-Volatile Memory Applications
title_full Evaluation of Bulk and SOI FeFET Architecture for Non-Volatile Memory Applications
title_fullStr Evaluation of Bulk and SOI FeFET Architecture for Non-Volatile Memory Applications
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of Bulk and SOI FeFET Architecture for Non-Volatile Memory Applications
title_short Evaluation of Bulk and SOI FeFET Architecture for Non-Volatile Memory Applications
title_sort evaluation of bulk and soi fefet architecture for non volatile memory applications
topic Ferroelectric FET (FeFET)
interlayer field (EIL)
memory window (MW)
silicon on insulator (SOI)
non-volatile memory (NVM)
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8672462/
work_keys_str_mv AT antikmallick evaluationofbulkandsoifefetarchitecturefornonvolatilememoryapplications
AT nikhilshukla evaluationofbulkandsoifefetarchitecturefornonvolatilememoryapplications