Intrinsic electrical breakdown limit of monolayer InP

Determine the intrinsic electrical breakdown limit of a two-dimensional indium phosphide (InP) monolayer in order to assess whether its predicted coercive field of 4.18 V/nm is compatible with ferroelectric polarization switching and device operation.

Background

The paper predicts an intrinsic coercive field of 4.18 V/nm for monolayer InP using ideal first-principles calculations. Applying this field is necessary to overcome the central energy barrier and reverse the material’s polarization.

The authors note that the required field may not damage the InP monolayer itself, but the material’s intrinsic electrical breakdown threshold has not been established. Determining this threshold is important for evaluating the feasibility of InP-based double-gate ferroelectric field-effect transistors, because the switching potential also produces strong fields across the gate insulators and may exceed conventional oxide breakdown limits.

References

From a device application perspective, although this high field might not compromise the InP monolayer itself, whose intrinsic electrical breakdown limit remains unknown, it poses a technological challenge for the double-gate architecture discussed in Section 2.3.

— Multiscale modelling of nanoscaled FETs based on 2D ferroelectric materials  (2609.37823 - Toral-Lopez et al., 29 Sep 2026) in Section 2.1, paragraph discussing the device implications of the calculated coercive field