Study of ferroelectric-thin-film thickness effects on metal-ferroelectric-SiO2–Si transistors

This article examines the thickness effects of ferroelectric films on gate tunneling suppression and charge control in metal-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MFISFETs). The formalism used is based on a blocking-layer model for the ferroelectric film and a self-consistent solution of the Poisson and Schrödinger equation. We show that with a polar ferroelectric the threshold voltage of the FET can be altered by controlling the ferroelectric film thickness. We also study the thickness dependence of the capacitance–voltage curve and the surface charge density and the effects of ferroelectric hysteresis. The tunneling probability and leakage current calculation in a MFISFET device are provided in this article. Ferroelectrics-based transistors show higher sheet charges and lower tunneling currents than oxide-based devices.