  The discovery of ferroelectric properties of binary oxides revitalized the
interest in ferroelectrics and bridged the scaling gap between the
state-of-the-art semiconductor technology and ferroelectric memories. However,
before hitting the markets, the origin of ferroelectricity and in-depth studies
of device characteristics are needed. Establishing a correlation between the
performance of the device and underlying physical mechanisms is the first step
toward understanding the device and engineering guidelines for a novel,
superior device. Therefore, in this paper a holistic modeling approaches which
lead to a better understanding of ferroelectric memories based on hafnium and
zirconium oxide is addressed. Starting from describing the stabilization of the
ferroelectric phase within the binary oxides via physical modeling the physical
mechanisms of the ferroelectric devices are reviewed. Besides, limitations and
modeling of the multilevel operation and switching kinetics of ultimately
scaled devices as well as the necessity for Landau-Khalatnikov approach are
discussed. Furthermore, a device-level model of ferroelectric memory devices
that can be used to study the array implementation and their operational
schemes are addressed. Finally, a circuit model of the ferroelectric memory
device is presented and potential further applications of ferroelectric devices
are outlined.
