The discovery of ferroelectric characteristics in annealed HfO2–based films opens a wide range of applications not only in
memory and logic, but the results will enable new scientific directions for instance in reconfigurable electronics. So far,
ferroelectric films have been investigated in metal-insulator-metal structures suitable for back-end-of-line integration. They
have also been introduced onto Si and two-dimensional materials. However, there is a gap of knowledge with lack of science
and technology for integration of HfO2–based ferroelectric films on III-V channel materials where the increased permittivity
will improve electrostatics. III-V transistors hold a key position for high-performance millimetre wave electronics. The high
electron mobility in III-V materials contributes to a high transconductance that enables high unity-current-gain cut-off
frequency and unity-power-gain cut-off frequency, fT and fmax, more than a factor 3 higher than competing Si MOSFET
technologies. The wide options for heterostructure design have enabled III-V steep-slope transistors for low-power
electronics operating down to 30 mV/dec without hysteresis .
To research for the first time ferroelectric films integrated on high-performance III-V devices at technology-relevant
dimensions, we will use our demonstrated integration of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 on InAs:
- Establishing the best strategy to integrate ferroelectric gate-stacks on III-V materials with strong polarization and
long endurance.
- Characterizing the dynamic properties with non-volatile functionality of ferroelectric films integrated on III-V transistor
channels.
- Investigating ferroelectric III-V MOSFETs for future applications including millimeter-wave devices, cryogenic
electronics, Negative Capacitance FET (NC-FET) circuitry, and Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions (FTJs).
Combined, the new science and technology will enable novel high-performance devices as well as reconfigurable millimetrewave
electronics.
