In fabrication of FeRAMs, various academic and technological backgrounds are necessary, which include ferroelectric materials, thin film formation, device physics, circuit design, and so on. This book covers from fundamentals to applications of ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMs). The book consists of 5 parts: (1) ferroelectric thin films, (2) deposition and characterization methods, (3) fabrication process and circuit design, (4) advanced-type memories, and (5) applications and future prospects; each part is further divided into several chapters. Because of the wide range of topics discussed, each chapter in this book was written by one of the best authors knowing the specific topic very well. Thus, this is a good introductory book on FeRAM for graduate students and newcomers to this field; it also helps specialists to understand FeRAMs more deeply.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of the materials characteristics, process technologies, and device operations for memory field-effect transistors employing inorganic or organic ferroelectric thin films. This transistor-type ferroelectric memory has interesting fundamental device physics and potentially large industrial impact. Among various applications of ferroelectric thin films, the development of nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) has been most actively progressed since the late 1980s and reached modest mass production for specific application since 1995. There are two types of memory cells in ferroelectric nonvolatile memories. One is the capacitor-type FeRAM and the other is the field-effect transistor (FET)-type FeRAM. Although the FET-type FeRAM claims the ultimate scalability and nondestructive readout characteristics, the capacitor-type FeRAMs have been the main interest for the major semiconductor memory companies, because the ferroelectric FET has fatal handicaps of cross-talk for random accessibility and short retention time. This book aims to provide the readers with development history, technical issues, fabrication methodologies, and promising applications of FET-type ferroelectric memory devices, presenting a comprehensive review of past, present, and future technologies. The topics discussed will lead to further advances in large-area electronics implemented on glass, plastic or paper substrates as well as in conventional Si electronics. The book is composed of chapters written by leading researchers in ferroelectric materials and related device technologies, including oxide and organic ferroelectric thin films.

The book consists of 5 parts: (1) ferroelectric thin films, (2) deposition and characterization methods, (3) fabrication process and circuit design, (4) advanced-type memories, and (5) applications and future prospects; each part is further divided into several chapters. Because of the wide range of topics discussed, each chapter in this book was written by one of the best authors knowing the specific topic very well.