Impact of Read Operation on the Performance of HfO<sub>2</sub>-Based Ferroelectric FETs
Halid Mulaosmanovic, Stefan Dünkel, Johannes Müller, Martin Trentzsch, Sven Beyer, Evelyn T. Breyer, Thomas Mikolajick, Stefan Slesazeck
Abstract
This letter investigates the impact of read operation on the electrical properties of hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs). We report that a quasi-static read may induce a series of phenomena, including a severe underestimation of the memory window, undesirable loss of the stored state, i.e. destructive read, increased variability and an apparent steep-slope behavior with a subthreshold slope lower than 7 mV/decade, which are not present under a fast read. We explain the results with the time-voltage dependence for the ferroelectric switching. Based on this, we provide comprehensive yet essential guidelines for disturb-free write and read operations.