Numerical simulation of single-event effects in fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator HfO₂-based ferroelectric field-effect transistor memory cell

Abstract

Ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FeFET) memory is currently a popular non-volatile memory. It has many advantages such as nonvolatility, better scalability, energy-efficient switching with non-destructive read-out and anti-radiation. To promote the application of FeFET in radiation environments, the single-event transient effect in HfO₂-based fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) FeFET memory cell is studied by technology computer aided design (TCAD) numerical simulation. The effects of different incident positions and angles of heavy ions and the drain bias voltage on the characteristics of the memory cell are analyzed. The results show that the corresponding polarization state in the HfO₂ ferroelectric layer will not reverse regardless of the change for the incident position of heavy ions, but the transient change of the output voltage for the memory cell will be affected. The most sensitive area is close to the drain-body junction area. Moreover, with the decrease of the ion incidence angle, the peak of output voltage for the memory cell increases. And the effect of the incident angle change is more obvious when reading data is “0” rather than “1”. The peak of output voltage for the memory cell is modulated by the drain bias voltage, and the modulation effect is more obvious when reading data is “1” rather than “0”. The above findings provide theoretical basis and guidance for the anti-single event design of the FDSOI FeFET memory cell.