First Experimental Demonstration of Robust HZO/β-Ga₂O₃ Ferroelectric Field-Effect Transistors as Synaptic Devices for Artificial Intelligence Applications in a High-Temperature Environment

We have experimentally demonstrated robust beta-gallium oxide (
$\beta $
-Ga
₂
O
₃
) ferroelectric (FE) field-effect transistors (FeFETs) on a sapphire substrate operated up to 400 °C. Atomic layer deposited (ALD) Hf
_0.5
Zr
_0.5
O
₂
[hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO)] is used as the FE dielectric. The HZO/
$\beta $
-Ga
₂
O
₃
FeFETs are studied for their synaptic behavior applications at elevated temperatures. The devices show distinguishable polarization switching operation with the output conductance quasi-linearly controlled by the number of input pulses on the FE gate. In a simulation, on-chip learning accuracy reaches 94% at elevated temperatures using the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) data set with a simple two-layer multilayer perceptron (MLP) network. These ultra wide bandgap semiconductor devices have the potential to fill the need for harsh environment neuromorphic applications.