Unveiling the Apparent “Negative Capacitance” Effects Resulting from Pulse Measurements of Ferroelectric-Dielectric Bilayer Capacitors
Apparent ‘Negative Capacitance’ (NC) effects have been observed in some ferroelectric-dielectric (FE-DE) bilayers by pulse measurements, and the associated results have been published that claim to be direct evidence to support the quasi-static ‘negative capacitance’ (QSNC) idea. However, the ‘NC’ effects only occur when sufficiently high voltage is applied, and even exist in stand-alone FE capacitors. These results contradict the QSNC theory, as it predicts that once stabilized (requires a DE layer), the FE remains in the ‘NC’ state regardless of the applied voltage. In this letter, by the use of Nucleation-Limited-Switching (NLS) model, we present our results obtained from simulation of pulse measurements on samples that are similar to the published ones. The simulation results indicate that reverse polarization switching occurs upon the falling edge of the pulses, which leads to the apparent hysteresis-free NC effect. This work provides an alternative interpretation of the experimental results without invoking the QSNC theory.
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Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10207151
Journal Name:
IEEE electron device letters
Volume:
41
Issue:
10
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
1492-95
ISSN:
1558-0563
The device concept of ferroelectric-based negative capacitance (NC) transistors offers a promising route for achieving energy-efficient logic applications that can outperform the conventional semiconductor technology, while viable operation mechanisms remain a central topic of debate. In this work, we report steep slope switching in MoS2transistors back-gated by single-layer polycrystalline PbZr0.35Ti0.65O3. The devices exhibit current switching ratios up to 8 × 106within an ultra-low gate voltage window of$$V_{{{\mathrm{g}}}} = \pm \! 0.5$$${V}_{g}=±\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0.5$V and subthreshold swing (SS) as low as 9.7 mV decade−1at room temperature, transcending the 60 mV decade−1Boltzmann limit without involving additional dielectric layers. Theoretical modeling reveals the dominant role of the metastable polar states within domain walls in enabling the NC mode, which is corroborated by the relation between SS and domain wall density. Our findings shed light on a hysteresis-free mechanism for NC operation, providing a simple yet effective material strategy for developing low-power 2D nanoelectronics.