Energy Minimization and Kirchhoff’s Laws in Negative Capacitance Ferroelectric Capacitors and MOSFETs

Capacitor networks consisting of ferroelectric and nonferroelectric materials can be described using two different perspectives: either the Gibb's energy minimization of the overall system, or the energy minimization of the ferroelectric capacitor alone, followed by the Kirchhoff's laws used to connect the individual capacitors. This letter revisits the physics behind the networks of ferroelectric and nonferroelectric capacitors, and it helps reconcile the two above perspectives and the corresponding modeling methodologies.