Memory Behavior of an Al2O3 Gate Dielectric Non-Volatile Field-Effect Transistor

Non-volatile field-effect transistor (FET) with amorphous Al2O3 dielectric is demonstrated on Si substrate, which is enabled by the voltage modulation of the oxygen vacancy and negative charge dipoles in gate insulator. Ferroelectric-like behavior in TaN/Al2O3/Si0.70Ge0.30 stacks with different thicknesses of Al2O3 is proved by polarization-voltage tests, positive-up and negative-down tests, piezoresponse force microscopy, and electrical measurements. The Al2O3 capacitors attain over 10(8) cycles' endurance of polarization versus voltage measurement. A 6.5 nm-thick Al2O3 non-volatile FET achieves a memory window above 0.6 V under +/- 2 V at 100 ns program/erase (P/E) condition, over 10(4) cycles P/E endurance, and >10(5)s data retention at room temperature.