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3eFERRO

The 3eFERRO project involves developing memories based on a newly discovered material.

This material consists of an ultra-thin (10nm) ferroelectric HfO2 oxide layer, in which information can be stored in a highly energy-efficient way for future low power IoT devices.


Publié le 22 avril 2021

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Energy Efficient Embedded Non-Volatile Memory & Logic Based on Ferroelectric Hf(Zr)O2


The 3eFERRO project involves developing memories based on a newly discovered material. This material consists of an ultra-thin (10nm) ferroelectric HfO2 oxide layer, in which information can be stored in a highly energy-efficient way for future low power IoT devices.


 


 

Starting date : Jan. 2018 > Jun. 2021 

Lifetime: 42 months


Program in support : H2020 ICT

 

Status of project : in progress


CEA-Leti's contact :     

Laurent Grenouillet

Yves Quéré                 

 

Project Coordinator: CEA-Iramis (FR)



Partners:  

  • Jülich (Forschungszentrum Julich GMBH), (DE)
  • NaMLab, (DE)
  • CEA-Leti, (FR)
  • Institut des Nanotechnologies de Lyon, (FR)
  • Ecole Centrale de Lyon (INL), (FR)
  • STMicroelectronics, (FR)
  • Demokritos (National center for scientific research), (GR)
  • NIMP (Institutul national de crecetare dezvoltare pentru fizica materialelor), (RO)
  • Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, (SW) 



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Investment: € 3.99 m

EC Contribution: € 3.99 m 


WebSite

Stakes

  • At CEA-Leti, we have successfully integrated the HfZrO2 CMOS-compatible ferroelectric material from NaMlab into our 200mm pilot line. For the first time, it has been demonstrated
    that this material is fully Back-End Of the Line (BEOL) compatible with state-of-the-art performance for FeRAM memory applications, such as 30ns operating speed, together with outstanding >1011 cycling capability and promising data retention, even at 125°C.

  • Based on first demonstrator run output and memory electrical characteristics obtained at single cell level, 16kbit arrays have been designed at CEA-Leti for optimized 1T-1C FeRAM functionality. Electrical readout is expected by mid-2020.

OBJECTIVES

  • Edge computing requires highly energy efficient microprocessor units (MCU) with embedded non-volatile memories (eNVM) to process data at the source, the IoT sensor node. eFLASH technology is limited by low write speed, high power and low endurance. Alternative fast, low power and high endurance eNVM could greatly enhance energy efficiency and allow flexibility for «finer grain» logic and memory. FeRAM has the highest endurance of all emerging NVMs. However, perovskite-based eFeRAM is incompatible with Si CMOS, does not easily scale and has manufacturability and cost issues.

  • We have introduced new ferroelectric material Hf(Zr)O2 to make FeRAM a competitive NVM candidate for IoT. HfO2 compatibility with Si processing will facilitate integration, improve manufacturability and allow better scaling. Different cell architectures based on capacitors or ferroelectric FETs will give unprecedented flexibility for “fine-grain” logic–in-Memory (LiM) circuits allowing data storage close to logic circuits, reducing the energy cost of data transfer and allowing smart gating for “normally-off” computing.

  • The project embraces four goals: i) Optimization of materials, ii) LiM design & architecture, iii) Integration of Hf(Zr)O2-based NVM arrays and iv) Memory testing, validation & benchmarking.



IMPACT

  • 3eFERRO aims to meet the urgent needs of European integrated device manufacturers and key microelectronics manufacturers and will help them to confirm their leading position in the IoT market (innovative MCU
    component products). The project should place European stakeholders in “pole position” in the race for a universal memory combining a high storage density medium with high speed. This could bridge the gap in performance between processors and memories and contribute to future development of data-centric computation systems.










​​More information on Website