Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Thomas Mikolajick, Min Hyuk Park, Laura Begon-Lours, Stefan Slesazeck
Summary: Due to the low voltage driven switching and nonvolatility, ferroelectric materials have great potential for low power nonvolatile electronic devices. However, the incompatibility of well-known ferroelectrics with existing semiconductor technology has hindered the competitiveness of these devices. The discovery of ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide has changed this situation. This article summarizes the material science of ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide, discusses the status of nonvolatile ferroelectric memories, explores applications like in-memory computing, and showcases the realization of neuromorphic computing systems using basic building blocks of spiking neural networks.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Review
Computer Science, Information Systems
Zhaohao Zhang, Guoliang Tian, Jiali Huo, Fang Zhang, Qingzhu Zhang, Gaobo Xu, Zhenhua Wu, Yan Cheng, Yan Liu, Huaxiang Yin
Summary: This review presents the potential of hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric field-effect-transistors (FeFET) for post-Moore integrated circuit innovations and discusses recent research progress in hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric films, device integration, and applications.
SCIENCE CHINA-INFORMATION SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
M. Lederer, T. Kampfe, T. Ali, F. Muller, R. Olivo, R. Hoffmann, N. Laleni, K. Seidel
Summary: This article presents the advantages of hafnium oxide-based FeFETs for accelerating neural network operation and discusses the impact of material properties on device performance. Good device properties are demonstrated even for highly scaled devices.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Siao-Cheng Yan, Guan-Min Lan, Chong-Jhe Sun, Ya-Han Chen, Chen-Han Wu, Hao-Kai Peng, Yu-Hsien Lin, Yung-Hsien Wu, Yung-Chun Wu
Summary: In this study, HfZrO2 ferroelectric fin field-effect transistors were fabricated and demonstrated excellent performance in terms of memory window, retention time, compatibility with current FinFET process, and reliability. These Fe-FinFETs are considered promising candidates for high-density ferroelectric field-effect transistor memory applications.
IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Siao-Cheng Yan, Chen-Han Wu, Chong-Jhe Sun, Yi-Wen Lin, Yi-Ju Yao, Yung-Chun Wu
Summary: The use of trench structures in ferroelectric Fin field-effect transistors improved electrical characteristics and suppressed short channel effects, resulting in higher performance compared to conventional FinFETs.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Dominik Kleimaier, Halid Mulaosmanovic, Stefan Dunkel, Sven Beyer, Steven Soss, Stefan Slesazeck, Thomas Mikolajick
Summary: This study systematically compared p-type FeFETs based on HfO2 and n-type FeFETs embedded in GlobalFoundries 28 nm HKMG technology, finding that they exhibit similar switching behavior but significantly different trapping kinetics. P-FeFETs show a full memory window immediately after the write operation, while n-FeFETs exhibit parasitic electron trapping.
IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Wonwoo Kho, Gyuil Park, Jisoo Kim, Hyunjoo Hwang, Jisu Byun, Yoomi Kang, Minjeong Kang, Seung-Eon Ahn
Summary: In this study, the implementation of spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule in the FTJ device was successful. Based on the simulation of handwriting image classification, it was demonstrated that the FTJ device can be used as a synaptic device for implementing an SNN.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Ava Jiang Tan, Yu-Hung Liao, Li-Chen Wang, Nirmaan Shanker, Jong-Ho Bae, Chenming Hu, Sayeef Salahuddin
Summary: Appropriate engineering of the interfacial layer can substantially improve the performance and reliability of FeFET devices.
IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ryun-Han Koo, Wonjun Shin, Seungwhan Kim, Jiseong Im, Sung-Ho Park, Jong Hyun Ko, Dongseok Kwon, Jae-Joon Kim, Daewoong Kwon, Jong-Ho Lee
Summary: This study analyzes the origin and impact of non-ideal characteristics in hardware neuromorphic systems, focusing on the variations in synaptic weights caused by ferroelectric tunnel junctions. The analysis identifies dynamic variation as the main bottleneck for achieving high-performance systems. To overcome this limitation, an adaptive read-biasing scheme is proposed, which significantly reduces power consumption and improves scalability by exploiting different noise sensitivities in each layer.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Jinhyun Noh, Hagyoul Bae, Junkang Li, Yandong Luo, Yiming Qu, Tae Joon Park, Mengwei Si, Xuegang Chen, Adam R. Charnas, Wonil Chung, Xiaochen Peng, Shriram Ramanathan, Shimeng Yu, Peide D. Ye
Summary: The experimental demonstration of robust beta-gallium oxide (beta-Ga2O3) ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs) operating at high temperatures shows potential for harsh environment neuromorphic applications.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Franz Mueller, Sourav De, Ricardo Olivo, Maximilian Lederer, Abdelrahman Altawil, Raik Hoffmann, Thomas Kaempfe, Tarek Ali, Stefan Duenkel, Halid Mulaosmanovic, Johannes Mueller, Sven Beyer, Konrad Seidel, Gerald Gerlach
Summary: This letter reports the MLC operation of FeFETs arranged in AND-connected memory arrays with a 4% BER when writing a random data pattern. The FeFETs with HfO2 were embedded in GlobalFoundries 28 nm bulk HKMG technology and are based on an MFIS stack. The direct field influence of the ferroelectric layer on the Si-channel current percolation paths results in device-to-device variation and contributes to the asymmetry in programming and erasing progression. Write schemes and state-preserving inhibit schemes are evaluated for array operation to cope with the influence of the CPPs. Finally, this enables the utilization of FeFETs' MLC capabilities, enhancing the storage density of 1T memory cells on the array level.
IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Yannick Raffel, Sourav Sourav De, Maximilian Lederer, Ricardo Revello Olivo, Raik Hoffmann, Sunanda Thunder, Luca Pirro, Sven Beyer, Talha Chohan, Thomas Kaempfe, Konrad Seidel, Johannes Heitmann
Summary: This study improved the performance of hafnium oxide-based FeFETs through IL engineering and READ voltage optimization. FeFET devices with SiON interfaces showed better WRITE endurance and retention compared to those with SiO2 interfaces, while the latter demonstrated better low-frequency characteristics. FeFETs with SiON IL achieved 96% accuracy in neural network inference tasks on handwritten digits, only deviating by 2.5% from the software baseline.
ACS APPLIED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Siao-Cheng Yan, Chen-Han Wu, Chong-Jhe Sun, Xin-Chan Zhong, Chih-Siang Chang, Hao-Kai Peng, Yung-Hsien Wu, Yung-Chun Wu
Summary: In this study, scaled ferroelectric fin field-effect transistors (Fe-FinFETs) based on HfZrO2 were fabricated and characterized for multi-level cell (MLC) operations. The Fe-FinFET exhibited a large memory window of 2.8 V, a high switching speed of 100 ns, and clearly separated intermediate states, making it suitable for MLC operations. It also demonstrated robust endurance and data retention, indicating its potential for high-density nonvolatile memory applications.
IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Kasidit Toprasertpong, Mitsuru Takenaka, Shinichi Takagi
Summary: This tutorial reviews the nonideal physical phenomenon of polarization-induced electron trapping in ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs) and its impact on device operation and performance. It also discusses several approaches to mitigate anomalous electron trapping.
APPLIED PHYSICS A-MATERIALS SCIENCE & PROCESSING
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Manh-Cuong Nguyen, Kitae Lee, Sihyun Kim, Sangwook Youn, Yeongjin Hwang, Hyungjin Kim, Rino Choi, Daewoong Kwon
Summary: In this study, a HZO ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FeFET) was fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator substrate for MHz synaptic device applications. The FeFETs demonstrated stable multistate weights, excellent retention, and symmetric potentiation/depression (P/D). A novel incremental drain-voltage-ramping method was proposed to improve the linearity and symmetry of the P/D, and its compatibility was thoroughly verified. The results showed that the FeFETs achieved a linear and symmetric P/D with stable repeatability under a wide range of operating conditions, and achieved a learning accuracy of 95% in MNIST pattern recognition simulations.
IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Ayse Suenbuel, David Lehninger, Raik Hoffmann, Ricardo Olivo, Aditya Prabhu, Fred Schoene, Kati Kuehnel, Moritz Doellgast, Nora Haufe, Lisa Roy, Thomas Kaempfe, Konrad Seidel, Lukas M. Eng
Summary: This study investigates the influence of various thicknesses of hafnium-zirconium-oxide (HZO) in metal-ferroelectric-metal (MFM) capacitors on the reliability of ferroelectric devices under different operating temperatures and electric fields. The results show that the 7 nm thick HZO exhibits promising endurance and retention performance under high temperature and high load conditions, indicating potential applications.
ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ankita De, Sattwick Haldar, Stefan Michel, Leonid Shupletsov, Volodymyr Bon, Nikolaj Lopatik, Lili Ding, Lukas M. Eng, Gunter K. Auernhammer, Eike Brunner, Andreas Schneemann
Summary: This study explores the tunability of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and their processability. Anchoring alkoxy side chains to the COF backbone elongates the interlayer distance, leading to the successful exfoliation into nanosheets. The nanosheets show stability in dispersion, hydrophobic surface properties, and potential applications in lithium-ion battery separators.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Ayse Suenbuel, David Lehninger, Maximilian Lederer, Hannes Maehne, Raik Hoffmann, Kerstin Bernert, Steffen Thiem, Fred Schoene, Moritz Doellgast, Nora Haufe, Lisa Roy, Thomas Kaempfe, Konrad Seidel, Lukas M. Eng
Summary: Hafnium oxide is a favorable material for ferroelectric nonvolatile memory devices. High-temperature annealing of hafnium-zirconium-oxide thin films leads to a significant imprint behavior, which is a challenge in many applications. Endurance cycling and applying high electric fields are two effective methods to reduce/recover the undesirable imprint behavior caused by high-temperature treatment.
PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI A-APPLICATIONS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Physics, Applied
M. Lederer, C. Mart, T. Kampfe, D. Lehninger, K. Seidel, M. Czernohorsky, W. Weinreich, B. Volkmann, L. M. Eng
Summary: The mechanism of nanoscopic domain switching in ferroelectric hafnium oxide and its implications for antiferroelectric-like behavior as well as for the wake-up effect are still under extensive discussion. Understanding this mechanism is crucial for numerous applications such as piezoelectric actuators, pyroelectric sensors, and nonvolatile memory devices. This article utilizes electrical and physical analysis methods to characterize ferroelectric hafnium oxide at both nanoscopic and macroscopic scales. Evidence of nanoscopic domains is observed through transmission Kikuchi diffraction, and combined with macroscopic Preisach density measurements, it is strongly suggested that antiferroelectric-like behavior and wake-up are governed by ferroelastic switching involving 90 degrees domain wall motion. Based on these findings, the material stack can be optimized to enhance microelectronic applications based on HfO2.
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Vivek Parmar, Franz Mueller, Jing-Hua Hsuen, Sandeep Kaur Kingra, Laleni Nellie, Yannick Raffel, Maximilian Lederer, Alptekin Vardar, Konrad Seidel, Taha Soliman, Tobias Kirchner, Tarek Ali, Stefan Duenkel, Sven Beyer, Tian-Li Wu, Sourav De, Manan Suri, Thomas Kaempfe
Summary: Harnessing multibit precision in NVM-based synaptic core can accelerate MAC operation of DNN. However, NVM-based synaptic cores suffer from the trade-off between bit density and performance, posing a severe bottleneck.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Computer Science, Hardware & Architecture
David Lehninger, Ayse Suenbuel, Ricardo Olivo, Thomas Kaempfe, Konrad Seidel, Maximilian Lederer
Summary: Many modern applications require non-volatile memories that are fast, reliable, and energy-efficient. Ferroelectric memories, such as FeFET and FeRAM, show promise in meeting these requirements. For the automotive industry, which operates under high temperature conditions of up to 150 degrees C, ferroelectric superlattices consisting of HfO2 and ZrO2 sub-layers are particularly appealing. Testing these superlattices embedded in MFM capacitors with varying sublayer thicknesses and a total thickness of 10 nm showed that relatively thick sublayers (>= 1 nm) outperformed standard reference films in terms of leakage resistance.
2023 IEEE INTERNATIONAL MEMORY WORKSHOP, IMW
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Computer Science, Hardware & Architecture
Franz Mueller, Sourav De, Maximilian Lederer, Raik Hoffmann, Ricardo Olivo, Thomas Kaempfe, Konrad Seidel, Tarek Ali, Halid Mulaosmanovic, Stefan Duenkel, Johannes Mueller, Sven Beyer, Gerald Gerlach
Summary: This paper reports on the MLC operation of AND-connected FeFET arrays and their suitability for CiM applications. The switching behavior and device variation of FeFETs in a passive AND array test-structure configuration is investigated, and suitable write schemes and inhibit schemes are derived. MLC operation of the AND arrays yields a performance suitable for CiM applications, with a BER of 4% in inference-only operation.
2023 IEEE INTERNATIONAL MEMORY WORKSHOP, IMW
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Vivek Parmar, Franz Mueller, Jing-Hua Hsuen, Sandeep Kaur Kingra, Yannick Raffel, Maximillian Lederer, Tarek Ali, Stefan Duenkel, Konrad Seidel, Sven Beyer, Tian-Li Wu, Thomas Kaempfe, Sourav De, Manan Suri
Summary: Harnessing multibit precision in NVM-based synaptic core can accelerate MAC operation of DNN. However, NVM-based synaptic cores suffer from the trade-off between bit density and performance. In this work, a novel DM-FeFET-based multibit crossbar array is implemented, achieving higher bit density and superior BER resilience.
2023 INTERNATIONAL VLSI SYMPOSIUM ON TECHNOLOGY, SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS, VLSI-TSA/VLSI-DAT
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Sourav De, Franz Mueller, Maximilian Lederer, Yannick Raffel, Tarek Ali, Luca Pirro, Stefan Duenkel, Sven Beyer, Konrad Seidel, Thomas Kaempfe
Summary: This article presents a 28 nm high-k-metal-gate (HKMG) based 3bits/cell memory using one ferroelectric (Fe) field effect transistor (FeFET) and one reconfigurable resistor (R-2). The R-2 is connected to the select line (SL) and the drain terminal of the FeFET, and can be reconfigured through the SL terminal. The 1F-1R(2) cells demonstrate current-based 3bits/cell operation over a 300mm wafer and stable retention characteristics at 85 degrees C for all eight current levels.
2023 INTERNATIONAL VLSI SYMPOSIUM ON TECHNOLOGY, SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS, VLSI-TSA/VLSI-DAT
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Jing-Hua Hsuen, Maximillian Lederer, Lars Kerkhofs, Yannick Raffel, Luca Pirro, Talha Chohan, Konrad Seidel, Thomas Kaempfe, Sourav De, Tian-Li Wu
Summary: This study reports that large polarization (2Pr ≈ 35.3 μC/cm2) can be achieved in Si-doped HfO2 Metal-Ferroelectric-Insulator-Semiconductor Capacitors with appropriate annealing temperature. The devices used in this study also exhibit wake-up free characteristic and good retention for up to 104 seconds. It is observed that devices annealed at different temperatures exhibit distinct leakage behavior, which negatively impacts the cycle-to-breakdown reliability.
2023 INTERNATIONAL VLSI SYMPOSIUM ON TECHNOLOGY, SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS, VLSI-TSA/VLSI-DAT
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Masud Rana Sk, Sunanda Thunder, David Lehninger, Yannick Raffel, Maximilian Lederer, Michael P. M. Jank, Thomas Kaempfe, Sourav De, Bhaswar Chakrabarti
Summary: In this paper, the impact of retention degradation on multibit operation in IGZO-based ferroelectric thin-film transistors (FeTFT) in content-addressable memory (CAM) cell applications is investigated. A scalable multibit 1FeTFT-1T-based CAM cell composed of one FeTFT and one transistor is proposed, which significantly improves density and energy efficiency compared to conventional CMOS-based CAM. The CAM operations with storage and search using experimentally calibrated IGZO-based FeTFT devices are demonstrated, and the impact of retention degradation on the search operation is studied. The proposed IGZO-based 3-bit and 2-bit CAM cells exhibit retention times of 104s and 106s, respectively, while the single-bit CAM cell shows lifelong (10 years) retention.
ACS APPLIED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
M. Rack, L. Nyssens, Q. H. Le, D. K. Huynh, T. Kaempfe, J. -P. Raskin, D. Lederer
Summary: This paper describes the design and implementation of a 113.5-127 GHz D-band LNA using GlobalFoundries' 22 nm FD-SOI technology. The proposed design achieves 6.6 dB of minimal noise-figure in-band for a peak gain of 17.5 dB at its nominal bias for a 27.5 mW power-consumption using a low supply voltage of 0.75 V, and can achieve an NF down to 6.1 dB and gain up to 19.1 dB in a high-performance state. It also introduces the capability of the LNA to be configured as a variable-gain device by utilizing the back-gate bias node of the 22FDX (R) technology.
2023 18TH EUROPEAN MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS CONFERENCE, EUMIC
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Quang Huy Le, Dang Khoa Huynh, Steffen Lehmann, Zhixing Zhao, Christoph Schwan, Thomas Kaempfe, Matthias Rudolph
Summary: This paper presents the modeling and analysis of high-frequency noise in 22-nm FDSOI CMOS technology. Experimental noise parameters up to 170 GHz are extracted for a multi-finger n-channel transistor using the tuner-based method. The applicability of the Pucel (PRC) noise model for predicting the noise characteristics of 22-nm FDSOI technology from low frequencies to D-band frequencies is validated. Additionally, the extraction and analysis of model parameters with respect to drain current at 94 GHz frequency are demonstrated.
2023 IEEE 23RD TOPICAL MEETING ON SILICON MONOLITHIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS IN RF SYSTEMS
(2023)