Highly Stable Electronics Based on β-Ga₂O₃ for Advanced Memory Applications

Wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors are at the forefront of driving innovations in electronic technology, perpetuating Moore's Law and opening up new avenues for electronic devices. Although β-Ga₂O₃ has attracted extensive research interest in advanced electronics, its high-temperature and high-speed volatile memory applications in harsh environment has been largely overlooked. Herein, a high-performance hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)/β-Ga₂O₃ heterostructure junction field-effect transistor (HJFET) is fabricated, exhibiting an off-state current as low as ≈10 fA, a high on/off current ratio of ≈10⁸, a low contact resistance of 5.6 Ω·mm, and an impressive field-effect electron mobility of 156 cm² （Vs）⁻¹. Notably, the current h-BN/β-Ga₂O₃ HJFET exhibits outstanding thermal reliability in the ultra-wide temperature range from 223 to 573 K, as well as long-term environmental stability in air, which confirms its inherent capability of operation in harsh environments. Moreover, the h-BN/β-Ga₂O₃ HJFET demonstrates successful applications for accelerator-in-memory computing fields, including dynamic random-access memory structure and neural network computations. These superior characteristics position β-Ga₂O₃-based electronics as highly promising for applications in extreme environments, with particular relevance to the automotive, aerospace, and sensor sectors.