Comparative Analysis of n- and p-Type Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions Through Understanding of Non-FE Resistance Switching

We re-evaluate the performance of the p -type ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ(p)) by introducing a perspective that includes non-ferroelectric (FE) resistive switching (RS). Contrary to the previous studies that FTJ(p) exhibits significantly lower on-current density (J(on)) compared to the n -type FTJ (FTJ(n)) , our observations show that FTJ(p) exhibits comparable J(on) to FTJ(n), thus achieving a higher tunneling electroresistance (TER) ratio. By analyzing low-frequency noise and temperature dependence of the fatigue rate, we demonstrate that the non-FE RS causes the increase in the J(on) and TER ratio of FTJ(p). Furthermore, we discover a new advantage of FTJ(p): It exhibits lower read noise than FTJ(n) in the operating region governed by the FE RS.

Automated summary

In this study, we re-evaluate the performance of p-type ferroelectric tunnel junction and find that it exhibits similar on-current density and higher tunneling electroresistance ratio compared to the n-type counterpart. We demonstrate that non-ferroelectric resistive switching contributes to the improvement of the p-type ferroelectric tunnel junction performance. Furthermore, we discover that the p-type junction has lower read noise than the n-type junction in the operating region governed by the ferroelectric effect.