Achieving High-Scalability Negative Capacitance FETs with Uniform Sub-35 mV/dec Switch Using Dopant-Free Hafnium Oxide and Gate Strain

For the first time, we successfully demonstrated that the 4-nm-thick dopant-free HfO₂ NCFETs using gate strain can implement an energy-efficient switch of a low gate overdrive voltage and a nearly hysteresis-free sub-40 mV/dec swing. The gate strain favorably rearranges oxygen vacancies and boosts orthorhombic phase transition. Furthermore, the dopant-free HfO₂ NCFET can be further improved by in-situ nitridation process. The 4-nm-thick nitrided HfO₂ NCFETs achieve a steep symmetric sub-35 mV/dec switch, a sustained sub-40 mV/dec SS distribution, and excellent stress immunity during NC switch. The high-scalability and dopant-free NCFET shows the great potential for the application of future highly-scaled 3D CMOS technology.