Reconfigurable frequency multiplication with a ferroelectric transistor

Frequency multiplication is essential in wireless communication systems, where stable high-frequency oscillations are required. However, multipliers typically employ power- and area-hungry filtering and amplification circuits. Here, we show that a single ferroelectric field-effect transistor, made from ferroelectric hafnium oxide, can be used as a full-wave rectifier and frequency doubler. This is achieved by using the parabolic shape of the transistor’s transfer characteristics, which can be tailored by accurately tuning the partial polarization switching and the band-to-band tunnelling drain current. Due to the reversible polarization switching, our approach is fully reconfigurable, allowing either multiplication or simple transmission of the input frequency to be activated within a single ferroelectric transistor. With our devices, we also implement two practical cases of the frequency modulation scheme without any additional filtering circuits. A single ferroelectric field-effect transistor, which is made from ferroelectric hafnium oxide, can be used as a full-wave rectifier and frequency doubler.