Silicon on ferroelectric insulator field effect transistor (SOF-FET) for ultra low power design

Abstract

This paper presents the concept of a new field effect transistor (FET) based on ferroelectric insulator. The proposed design is named Silicon-on-Ferroelectric Insulator (SOF) FET. The design combines the concepts of negative capacitance in ferroelectric material and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) device. The design proposes that by burying a layer ferroelectric insulator inside bulk silicon substrate an effective negative capacitance (NC) can be achieved. The NC effect can provide internal signal boosting. It is demonstrated that by carefully selecting thickness of the ferroelectric film inside the device the subthreshold swing and the threshold voltage can be lowered. Lower subthreshold swing is a prime requirement for ultra-low-power design.