Patent ID: 8531862

Claim:
An electric component comprising: at least one first MIM capacitor having a ferroelectric insulator layer with a relative permittivity of at least 100 between a first capacitor electrode of a first electrode material and a second capacitor electrode of a second electrode material; wherein the first and second electrode materials are selected such that the first MIM capacitor exhibits, as a function of a DC voltage applicable between the first and second electrodes, an asymmetric capacitance hysteresis that lets the first MIM capacitor, in absence of the DC voltage, assume one of at least two possible distinct capacitance values, in dependence on a polarity of a switching voltage last applied to the capacitor, the switching voltage having an amount larger than a threshold-voltage amount: a circuit, which is operably connectable to the MIM capacitor and which configured to generate and provide an output signal, which depends on the capacitance value of the at least one first MIM capacitor either assumed in absence of the DC voltage on the first MIM capacitor or at an amount of the DC voltage on the first MIM capacitor, which is smaller than a quarter of a voltage difference between a positive and a negative coercive voltage associated with the ferroelectric insulator layer of the first MIM capacitor: a second MIM capacitor of the same type as the first MIM capacitor, wherein the first capacitor electrode of the first MIM capacitor and the second capacitor electrode of the second MIM capacitor are both connected to a reference potential; the switching voltage is applicable in parallel to the second electrode of the first MIM capacitor and to the first capacitor electrode of the second MIM capacitor; and wherein the capacitance-sensor unit is configured to generate first and second capacitance sensor signals indicative of the capacitance values in the absence of the DC voltage of the first and of the second MIM capacitors, respectively.