Non-Volatile Field-Effect Transistors Enabled by Oxygen Vacancy-Related Dipoles for Memory and Synapse Applications
Yue Peng, Wenwu Xiao, Fenning Liu, Yan Liu, Genquan Han, Nan Yang, Ni Zhong, Chun‐Gang Duan, Chen Liu, Yichun Zhou, Ze Feng, Hong Dong, Yue Hao
Abstract
Exploring the high-performance non-volatile memories for realizing energy-efficient memory in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits, memory-in-computing, and the artificial synapse is the key to the rapid growth in data markets. One of the significant aspects is the development of non-volatile field-effect transistor (NVFET), which possesses the advantage of decoupling the “write” and “read” functions using the third terminal. In this work, building on a semiconductor channel integrated with an amorphous Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> gate insulator, we report a ferroelectric-like NVFET memory and analog synapse that differ from those utilizing polycrystallinedoped HfO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> films. Switchable polarization (P) is demonstrated in TaN/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> /TaN, TaN/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> /Si, and TaN/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> /Ge stacks, which is attributed to the voltage-modulation of the oxygen vacancy and negative charge dipoles in gate insulator. A TaN/Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> /Ge capacitor achieves over 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">10</sup> cycles endurance of polarization-voltage measurement. A memory window (MW) of 0.85 V is obtained in the NVFET integrated with Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> insulator under ±3 V at 100 ns program/erase (P/E) condition, and the P/E voltage can be reduced to ±1.6 V. A NVFET analog synapse is demonstrated to have a dynamic range above 100 [asymmetry (|α <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">p</sub> - α <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">d</sub> |)<; 0.1] with ±2 V/100 ns potentiation/depression pulses. These results can be extended universally to other amorphous oxides and show promise for 3-D (fin-shaped) NVFETs with very small fin pitch.