Negative Capacitance in Organic/Ferroelectric Capacitor to Implement Steep Switching MOS Devices

Because of the “Boltzmann tyranny” (i.e., the nonscalability of thermal voltage), a certain minimum gate voltage in metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) devices is required for a 10-fold increase in drain-to-source current. The subthreshold slope (SS) in MOS devices is, at best, 60 mV/decade at 300 K. Negative capacitance in organic/ferroelectric materials is proposed in order to address this physical limitation in MOS technology. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the steep switching behavior of a MOS devicethat is, SS ∼ 18 mV/decade (much less than 60 mV/decade) at 300 Kby taking advantage of negative capacitance in a MOS gate stack. This negative capacitance, originating from the dynamics of the stored energy in a phase transition of a ferroelectric material, can achieve the step-up conversion of internal voltage (i.e., internal voltage amplification in a MOS device). With the aid of a series-connected negative capacitor as an assistive device, the surface potential in the MOS device becomes higher than the applied gate voltage, so that a SS of 18 mV/decade at 300 K is reliably observed.