Energy harvesting in the back-end of line with CMOS compatible ferroelectric hafnium oxide

We demonstrate the feasibility of thermal energy recovery in the back end of line (BEoL) employing CMOS-compatible ferroelectric hafnium oxide. Efficient pyroelectric energy harvesting with a sizable power density of 92 mWcm-3 under typical thermal conditions is achieved. Our energy harvesting approach exceeds the efficiency limit of commonly-used thermoelectric materials, without using a heat switch. The low-voltage operation, scalability, and abundance in CMOS manufacturing make HfO2-based ferroelectrics promising candidates for integrated energy harvesting and solid-state refrigeration applications.