Non-Uniform Quantum Well and Barrier Thickness Engineering for Robust Ultra-High TER and Low RA Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions

@misc{khattar2026nonuniform,
  title = {{Non-Uniform Quantum Well and Barrier Thickness Engineering for Robust Ultra-High TER and Low RA Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions}},
  author = {Balram Khattar and Adarsh Tripathi and Manish Anand and Abhishek Sharma},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.31411},
  eprint = {2609.31411},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31411},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Non-Uniform Quantum Well and Barrier Thickness Engineering for Robust Ultra-High TER and Low RA Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions
AU  - Balram Khattar
AU  - Adarsh Tripathi
AU  - Manish Anand
AU  - Abhishek Sharma
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/25
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.31411
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31411
AB  - HfO_2-based ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) are promising candidates for scalable non-volatile memory, but simultaneously achieving a high tunneling electro-resistance ratio (TER) and a low resistance-area (RA) product remains challenging. To address this challenge, this work introduces non-uniform quantum well (QW) and barrier thickness engineering in HfO_2-based multi-QW FTJs using a self-consistent Preisach-based ferroelectric (FE) model integrated with the coherent and inelastic non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism. The non-uniform well and barrier configuration produces a wide range of FTJ design landscapes due to closely spaced, broad resonant states in the low resistance state (LRS) and a larger separation in the high resistance state (HRS), resulting in strong polarization-dependent resonant transmission with TER reaching the order of 1×10^8% and an LRS RA product as low as 1 Ω·cm^2 at read bias and in the presence of scattering. By incorporating self-consistent elastic scattering into the NEGF framework, we also show that elastic scattering can positively influence the TER and RA performance of non-uniform FTJs by progressively increasing the overlap of the closely spaced resonances. Overall, the results establish non-uniform QW and barrier thickness as an effective and robust design parameter for controlling resonant-state alignment and achieving a favorable combination of high TER and low RA in HfO_2-based multi-QW FTJs.
ER  -