Potential and Limitations of HfZrO2-based Ferroelectric MOSFET For Low Power Applications

The potential and limitations of HfZrO₂-based ferroelectric MOSFETs (FeFETs) are quantitatively evaluated based on BSIM4 and Landau-Khalatnikov equation. For reliable prediction of dynamic characteristics, the recently reported damping constant ξ_FE = 10 Ω·m} of HfZrO₂ is used. Due to negative capacitance (NC) effect in ferroelectric HfZrO₂, current amplification is achieved in transfer and output characteristics. Circuit simulation of a three-stage oscillator and inverter chain shows that it is very challenging to operate FeFETs beyond the frequency of 100 MHz due to the large value of ξ_FE. Compared with MOSFETs, reduction in power consumption has very similar magnitude to reduction in supply voltage. Our results explicitly show that HfZrO₂-based FeFETs can be used for the future low frequency and low power applications.