Ferroelectric field effect transistors for electronics and optoelectronics

Ferroelectric materials have shown great value in the modern semiconductor industry and are considered important function materials due to their high dielectric constant and tunable spontaneous polarization. A ferroelectric field effect transistor (FeFET) is a field effect transistor (FET) with ferroelectric polarization field introduced to regulate carriers in semiconductors. With the coupling of ferroelectric and semiconductor, FeFETs are attractive for advanced electronic and optoelectronic applications, including emerging memories, artificial neural networks, high-performance photodetectors, and smart sensors. In this review, representative research results of FeFETs are reviewed from the perspective of structures and applications. Here, the background and significance of ferroelectrics and FeFETs are given. Furthermore, methods of building FeFETs in different structures and physical models describing the characteristics of FeFET are introduced. Important applications of FeFETs in electronics and optoelectronics are presented, with a comparison of performance between FeFETs and FETs without ferroelectrics, including memories and memristive devices, photodetectors, negative capacitance FETs, sensors, and multifunctional devices. Finally, based on the above discussions, promising applications and challenges of FeFETs are summarized.(c) 2023 Author(s).

Automated summary

Ferroelectric materials have high value in the semiconductor industry due to their high dielectric constant and adjustable spontaneous polarization. Ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFETs) are attractive for advanced electronic and optoelectronic applications, and this review gives a comprehensive overview of their structures and applications. It introduces the background and significance of ferroelectrics and FeFETs, discusses the methods of building FeFETs with different structures and the physical models describing their characteristics. The review also presents important applications of FeFETs in electronics and optoelectronics, and summarizes the promising applications and challenges based on the discussions.