Scalable Ferroelectric Non-Volatile Memory Devices for Extreme-Environment Computing

We are pleased to announce an upcoming colloquium featuring Dr. Dhiren K. Pradhan from the Angi Semiconductor.

Abstract:

Non-volatile memory (NVM) devices that reliably operate at temperatures above 300 °C are not available commercially. Numerous emerging harsh environment applications, including aeronautics, space exploration, oil and gas exploration, nuclear power plants, mining, and more, demand complex in-situ computing and sensing capabilities, where high-temperature NVM plays a critical role. Current Silicon (Si)-based micro(nano)electronics, utilizing complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, encounter reliability challenges above 150 °C and cannot retain their functional properties at high temperatures. Ferroelectric AlxSc1-xN exhibits strong potential for utilization in NVM devices operating at very high temperatures (> 500 °C) given its stable and high remnant polarization (PR) above 100 μC/cm2 with demonstrated ferroelectric transition temperature (TC) > 1000 °C. Here, we demonstrate an Al0.68Sc0.32N ferroelectric diode based NVM device that can reliably operate with clear ferroelectric switching up to 600 °C with distinguishable On and Off states. The coercive field (EC) from the Triangle Wave I-V measurements is found to be -5.84 (EC-) and +5.98 (EC+) (+/- 0.1) MV/cm at room temperature (RT) and found to decrease with increasing temperature up to 600 °C. The devices exhibit high remnant polarizations (> 100 μC/cm2) which are stable at high temperatures. At 600 °C, our devices show 1 million read cycles with On-Off ratio above 1 for > 60 hours. Finally, the operating voltages of our AlScN ferrodiodes are < 15 V at 600 °C which is compatible with Silicon Carbide (SiC) based high temperature logic technology, thereby making our demonstration a major step towards commercialization of NVM integrated high-T computers. NVM characteristics of engineered ferrodiodes with higher On-Off ratios at > 600 °C will also be presented in the meeting.

Biography:

Dr. Dhiren K. Pradhan is a Principal Scientist at Angi Semiconductor. His research centers on developing novel ferroelectric, magnetic, and multiferroic materials, alongside advanced device architectures, to enable next-generation, energy-efficient micro- and nanoelectronics for memory storage and energy harvesting.

Dr. Pradhan earned his B.Sc. in Physics from Gangadhar Meher University and his M.Sc. in Physics from Sambalpur University in Odisha, India. He then completed an M.Tech. in Solid State Technology at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur before moving to the United States to earn his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics at the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan in 2016.

Dr. Pradhan built extensive research experience through several prestigious postdoctoral appointments across the United States. He served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science (2017–2019), held a joint position with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2019–2022), and conducted research in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (2023–2025). His technical expertise spans high-temperature logic and memory devices, quantum materials, oxide heterostructures, 2D materials, scanning probe microscopy, and nanofabrication.