Beyond Conventional Ferroelectric Field-Effect Transistors: Recent Advances in Materials, Architectures, and Functional Applications

Abstract

Ferroelectric field-effect transistors have emerged as promising device platforms for next-generation electronics due to their ability to combine nonvolatile memory operation with polarization-controlled modulation of channel conductance. Recent research has extended ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs) beyond their traditional use as memory transistors to multifunctional hardware which allows optoelectronic signal processing, neuromorphic operation, and in-memory computing. This paper covers current developments in FeFETs from the perspectives of ferroelectric materials, device architectures, integration platforms, and neuromorphic applications. First, we go over representative ferroelectric material systems used in FeFETs, such as HfO₂-based ferroelectrics, two-dimensional ferroelectric materials, and organic ferroelectrics with a focus on how these systems affect device physics, scalability, and functional variety. Next, we discuss interface engineering in FeFETs and examine FeFET-based memory architectures and structural platforms, emphasizing silicon-based and flexible implementations as well as vertically integrated 3D FeNAND arrays. We also discuss reliability and degradation issues in FeFETs, and this review further highlights the increasing number of applications of FeFETs in neuromorphic computing, such as analog synaptic devices, leaky integrate-and-fire neurons, optoelectronic synaptic behaviors, associative learning, and reservoir computing. Overall, FeFETs are developing from nonvolatile memory devices into multifunctional platforms that can connect computation, memory, and sensing in small, energy-efficient systems.