Evaluating the Robustness of Complementary Channel Ferroelectric FETs Against Total Ionizing Dose Towards Radiation-Tolerant Embedded Nonvolatile Memory

In this work, a thorough assessment of the robustness of complementary channel HfO ₂ ferroelectric FET (FeFET) against total ionizing dose (TID) radiation is conducted, with the goal of determining its suitability for use as high-performance and energy-efficient embedded nonvolatile memory (eNVM) for space applications. We demonstrate that: i) ferroelectric HfO ₂ thin film is robust against X-ray and proton irradiation; ii) FeFET exhibits a polarization state dependent radiation sensitivity where the high- V _TH (HVT) state sees noticeable negative V _TH shift and low- V _TH (LVT) is immune to irradiation, irrespective of the channel type; iii) the state dependence is ascribed to the depolarization field in the HVT, which points toward the channel and facilitates the transport and trapping of radiation-generated holes close to the channel. In the future, radiation hardening techniques need to be considered.