We demonstrate a fast shutdown and resumption of a logic circuit applied a nonvolatile latch having SrBi2(Ta,Nb)2O9 (SBT) capacitors without a higher drive voltage than a logic voltage of 1.8 V. By assigning an individual drive circuit of the SBT capacitors to the nonvolatile latch not sharing a drive circuit with multiple nonvolatile latches, the fast shutdown and resumption of a logic circuit were completed in 7.5 ns at a drive voltage of 1.3 V. The fast shutdown and resumption without an addition of a high drive voltage to a logic circuit meets a requirement from power-saving applications of system LSIs fabricated in CMOS technologies at 90-nm and below.

Ferroelectric non-volatile memory (FeRAM) has been inspiring interests since bismuth layer perovskite material family was found to provide "Fatigue Free" endurance, superior retention and imprint characteristics. In this paper, we will provide new circuits technology for FeRAM developed to implement high speed operation, low voltage operation and low power consumption. Performance of LSI embedded with FeRAM for contactless IC card is also provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the circuit technology.

Characterization of silicon devices incorporating the capacitor which uses ferroelectric thin films as capacitor dielectrics is presented. As cases in point, a DRAM cell capacitor and an analog/digital silicon IC using the thin film of barium strontium titanate (Ba1-xSRxTiO3) are examined. Production and characterization of the ferroelectric thin films are also described, focusing on a Metal Organic Deposition technique and liquid source CVD.