ABSTRACT
Next-generation energy-efficient computing has recently seen strong interest, with positive pressures from the popularization of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and high-performance portable electronics, including phones, tablets, and laptops. A large bottleneck for energy-efficiency has long been the information storage units, which typically rely on charge-storage for programming and erasing. HfO2-based ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) store data as a change in polarization state, which is read as a modification of resistance state, and represent a unique opportunity as a next-generation digital non-volatile memory, while also being complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible (CMOS-compatible). These devices have higher reliability than filamentary resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) and lower power consumption compared to competing devices, including phase-change memory (PCM) and other state-of-the-art FTJ. As shown in Table 5.1, FTJs outperform all other production and next-generation devices in terms of energy efficiency by orders of magnitude. In this chapter, the quantum-mechanical origins for this impressive energy performance will be discussed, along with some of the production implementation challenges and engineering considerations. Finally, system design examples utilizing these devices will be presented.
