A hybrid ferroelectric and charge nonvolatile memory

Abstract

We introduce a new nonvolatile memory that incorporates ferroelectric (FE) switching layer and charge-storage floating node in a single gate stack. This hybrid FE-charge design reduces the depolarization field in the FE layer as well as increases the memory window over conventional FE-FET. The magnitude of the electric field in the tunnel dielectric is reduced at retention and enhanced at program/erase from the FE polarization. This paper discusses the working principle, gate stack design, fabrication and experimental results of this hybrid design compared to FE-FET and charge-trap Flash.