Retention and Endurance of FeFET Memory Cells

Despite decades of R&D, the single-transistor (1-T) memory cell based on ferroelectric-gated Field-Effect-Transistor (FeFET) has failed to commercialize as of this writing, largely due to the inadequate retention time. The recent advent of the HfO 2 -based ferroelectrics, however, promises to change that. The fundamental reasons for this change, which hinges on the relatively large coercive fields (E c 's) of HfO 2 -based ferroelectrics, will be discussed. On the other hand, the large Ec's also causes endurance problems, which is a major reliability concern. This reliability concern is the other key topic covered in this paper.