High-Performance Ferroelectric Field-Effect Transistors with Ultra-High Current and Carrier Densities

Abstract: Ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFET) with two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor channels are promising low-power, embedded non-volatile memory (NVM) candidates for next-generation in-memory computing. However, the performance of FeFETs can be limited by a charge imbalance between the ferroelectric layer and the channel, and for low-dimensional semiconductors, also by a high contact resistance between the metal electrodes and the channel. Here, we report a significant enhancement in performance of contact-engineered FeFETs with a 2D MoS2 channel and a ferroelectric Al0.68Sc0.32N (AlScN) gate dielectric. Replacing Ti with In contact electrodes results in a fivefold increase in on-state current (~120 uA/um at 1 V) and on-to-off ratio (~2*10^7) in the FeFETs. In addition, the high carrier concentration in the MoS2 channel during the on-state (> 10^14 cm^-2) facilitates the observation of a metal-to-insulator phase transition in monolayer MoS2 permitting observation of high field effect mobility (> 100 cm^2V^-1s^-1) at cryogenic temperatures. Our work and devices broaden the potential of FeFETs and provides a unique platform to implement high-carrier-density transport in a 2D channel.