Polarization-tunable interfacial properties in monolayer-MoS2 transistors integrated with ferroelectric BiAlO3(0001) polar surfaces

With the explosion of data-centric applications, new in-memory computing technologies, based on nonvolatile memory devices, have become competitive due to their merged logic-memory functionalities. Herein, employing first-principles quantum transport simulation, we theoretically investigate for the first time the electronic and contact properties of two types of monolayer (ML)-MoS2 ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFETs) integrated with ferroelectric BiAlO3(0001) (BAO(0001)) polar surfaces. Our study finds that the interfacial properties of the investigated partial FeFET devices are highly tunable by switching the electric polarization of the ferroelectric BAO(0001) dielectric. Specifically, the transition from quasi-Ohmic to the Schottky contact, as well as opposite contact polarity of respective n-type and p-type Schottky contact under two polarization states can be obtained, suggesting their superior performance metrics in terms of nonvolatile information storage. In addition, due to the feature of (quasi-)Ohmic contact in some polarization states, the explored FeFET devices, even when operating in the regular field-effect transistor (FET) mode, can be extremely significant in realizing a desirable low threshold voltage and interfacial contact resistance. In conjunction with the formed van der Waals (vdW) interfaces in ML-MoS2/ferroelectric systems with an interlayer, the proposed FeFETs are expected to provide excellent device performance with regard to cycling endurance and memory density.

Automated summary

This study investigates the electronic and contact properties of two types of monolayer-MoS2 ferroelectric field-effect transistors integrated with ferroelectric BiAlO3 dielectric. The study finds that the interfacial properties of the devices can be tuned by switching the electric polarization of the ferroelectric dielectric, leading to superior nonvolatile information storage performance.