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We propose a three-terminal variable-area capacitor integrated with a ferroelectric-gate field-effect transistor (FeFET) and a paraelectric thin-film capacitor. Owing to the large charge controllability and nonvolatile memory function of the ferroelectric Hf0.86Ce0.14O2 (14% Ce-HfO2) gate insulator, the variable-area capacitors exhibited high capacitance tuning ratios of up to 184 with steep modulation to gate voltage swing (440 mV/decade), a capacitance-switching speed of less than 10 ms, and capacitance-memory-retention characteristics of up to 105 s. An FeFET with an indium tin oxide (ITO) channel and a ferroelectric 14% Ce-HfO2 gate insulator was fabricated as a switching FET via chemical solution deposition, followed by stacking a sputtered Al2O3 film as a variable capacitor. The fabricated FeFETs exhibited a high on-current of ∼0.15 A/mm, a large on/off current ratio of 107, a field-effect mobility of 15.6 cm2/V s, and a memory window of ∼5 V. The high on-current, i.e., low on-resistance (84 Ω), and the large on/off current ratio allow the ITO channel to act as a wiring that connects and disconnects two capacitors with different electrode areas; therefore, the proposed variable capacitor can achieve wide and steep modulation by ferroelectric gating. This study provides prospects for the future integration of passive and active components for advanced high-efficiency and miniaturized electronics such as power devices and communication equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing interest in a ferroelectric transistor, mainly using vacuum processed hafnium oxide based materials. We report in this paper a solution processed ZnO thin-film transistor (TFT) with improved ferroelectric performance in Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) using a triple layer of ZrOx/HZO/AlOx by spray pyrolysis. The performance enhancement is due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the bottom/top dielectric and HZO layers. Grazing incident x-ray diffraction, current–voltage, capacitance–voltage, polarization–voltage, and anticlockwise hysteresis in transfer curve confirm the excellent ferroelectricity of the triple layer. A memory window as large as ∼3 V, the maximum on/off ratio of 3.5 × 109, the field-effect mobility of 125 cm2/V s, and the subthreshold slope of 0.18 V/decade were obtained from the ZnO TFT with the ZrOx/HZO/AlOx gate insulator, demonstrating the high performance ferroelectric ZnO TFT. This result can open opportunities for ferroelectric oxide TFT for large area electronics on glass, including display. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a series of solution-processed p-type conductive amorphous Ln-M-O (a-Ln-M-O, where M = Ru, Ir, and Ln is a lanthanide element except Ce) having low resistivities (10-3 to 10-2 Ω cm). These oxides are thermally stable to a high degree, being amorphous up to 800 °C, and processable below 400 °C. Their film surfaces are smooth on the atomic scale, and the process allows patterning simply by direct imprinting without distortion of the pattern after annealing. These properties have high potential for use in printed electronics. The electron configurations of these oxides are apparently different from existing p-type oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated flexible ferroelectric gate thin-film transistors (Fe-TFTs) with ferroelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] and amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) channel on the polyethylene-naphthalate (PEN) substrate. First, we confirm basic ferroelectric properties of the P(VDF-TrFE) film on the PEN substrate with various bending radius. Next, we fabricated Fe-TFTs with Al/120 nm-P(VDF-TrFE)/40 nm-IGZO top gate structure. Excellent electrical characteristics are demonstrated and nonvolatile memory function was confirmed with a memory window of 8.4 V. A subthreshold voltage swing of 400 mV/decade, Ion/Ioff ratio of more than 107 and the field-effect mobility of ∼1 cm2/Vs were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show a path for low-temperature crystallization of device-quality solution-processed lead zirconate titanate films. The essential aspect of the path is to circumvent pyrochlore formation at around 300 °C during temperature increase up to 400 °C. By maintaining enough carbon via pyrolysis at 210 °C, well below the temperature for pyrochlore formation, Pb2+ can be reduced to Pb0. This leads to the lack of Pb2+ in the film to suppress the development of pyrochlore, which accounts for the usual high-temperature conversion to perovskite. Films on metal, metal/oxide hybrid, and oxide bottom electrodes were successfully crystallized at 400–450 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We characterized the nonvolatile memory thin-film transistors, which was composed of an amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (α-IGZO) active channel and a ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] gate insulator, and investigated the impact of an interface controlling layer. Excellent device performances, such as the field-effect mobility of 60.9 cm2 V-1 s-1, the subthreshold swing of 120 mV/dec, and the memory window of 6.4 V at ±12 V programming, were confirmed for the device without any interface layer. However, the memory retention time was very short. The retention behaviors could be dramatically improved when 4 nm thick Al2O3 layer was introduced between the P(VDF-TrFE) and α-IGZO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report solution-processed, highly conductive (resistivity 1.3-3.8 mΩ cm), p-type amorphous A-B-O (A = Bi, Pb; B = Ru, Ir), processable at temperatures (down to 240 °C) that are compatible with plastic substrates. The film surfaces are smooth on the atomic scale. Bi-Ru-O was analyzed in detail. A small optical bandgap (0.2 eV) with a valence band maximum (VBM) below but very close to the Fermi level (binding energy EVBM = 0.04 eV) explains the high conductivity and suggests that they are degenerated semiconductors. The conductivity changes from three-dimensional to two-dimensional with decreasing temperature across 25 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An annealing method for preparing SrBi[sub 2]Ta[sub 2]O[sub 9] (SBT) thin films, a face-to-face annealing method, is proposed, and its effectiveness is demonstrated. In this method, an SBT film deposited on a substrate using a sol-gel technique was directly put with the film side down on the other SBT film during crystallization process. The SBT films were crystallized at 750 °C in an oxygen flow and successively annealed at 400 °C in a 6.2 wt % ozone flow. It was found that remanent polarization value (2Pr) in a 175-nm-thick SBT film was as large as 23 μC/cm[sup 2] when the face-to-face annealing method was conducted. It was also found from time-dependent leakage current measurement that the leakage current density of the films was lower than 1x10[sup -9] A/cm[sup 2] at an electric field of 65 kV/cm. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]