Experimental Demonstration and Modeling of BEOL-Compatible IGZO-Based Ferroelectric-Modulated Diodes

We experimentally demonstrate a back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible InGaZnOx (IGZO)-based ferroelectric-modulated diode (FMD), showcasing effective enhancement of the memory window (MW) compared to ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FeFET) fabricated under identical process conditions. In addition, we establish a modeling framework elucidating the interplay between ferroelectric (FE) polarization and Schottky contact to reproduce the energy barrier modulation effect. A comparative analysis of MW formation mechanisms between conventional oxide semiconductor (OS) FeFETs and our novel FMDs is conducted, validating the performance improvements of our FMD devices by overcoming the weak erase problem of OS FeFETs. Furthermore, we carry out a systematic investigation into the structural dependence of the FMD MW by varying the Schottky metalwork functions and the semiconductor layer thicknesses. These critical insights, supported by both experiments and simulations, provide a design guideline for optimizing MW of BEOL-compatible FE memories to meet the requirements of future nonvolatile memory (NVM) applications.