Reliability of Capacitive Read in Arrays of Ferroelectric Capacitors
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: The non-destructive capacitance read-out of ferroelectric capacitors (FeCaps) based on doped HfO2metal-ferroelectric-metal (MFM) structures offers the potential for low-power and highly scalable crossbar arrays. This is due to a number of factors, including the selector-less design, the absence of sneak paths, the power-efficient charge-based read operation, and the reduced IR drop. Nevertheless, a reliable capacitive readout presents certain challenges, particularly in regard to device variability and the trade-off between read yield and read disturbances, which can ultimately result in bit-flips. This paper presents a digital read macro for HfO2FeCaps and provides reliability analysis for the capacitive readout of HfO2FeCaps, taking device variability and yield challenges into account. An experimentally calibrated physics-based compact model of HfO2FeCaps is employed to investigate the reliability of the read-out operation of the FeCap macro through Monte Carlo simulations. Based on this analysis, we identify limitations posed by the device variability and propose potential mitigation strategies through design-technology co-optimization (DTCO) of the FeCap device characteristics and the CMOS circuit design. Finally, we examine the potential applications of the FeCap macro in the context of secure hardware. We identify potential security threats and propose strategies to enhance the robustness of the system.
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: European Research Council
OpenAlex ID: W4411725043