Reducing Coercive Field and Improving Endurance in Ferroelectric Epitaxial Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 Thin Films via Novel Interface Layer Approach
Source abstract
Abstract
Abstract Ferroelectric doped hafnium oxide (HfO 2 ) has emerged as CMOS‐compatible and scalable ferroelectric for next‐generation memory/in‐memory computing devices. However, its high coercive field (E c ) and limited endurance remain key obstacles. Here, a ≈25% reduction in E c from 3.3 to 2.5 MV/cm and an order of magnitude increase in endurance by implementing an ultrathin (≈2 nm) 5 at.% Sm‐doped HZO (HZSO) ionic conducting underlayer for HZO are shown. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results reveal the absence of redox effects during primary ferroelectric switching in HZSO, unlike in HZO. NEB calculations show that V O ‐rich HZSO lowers the switching barrier compared to that of HZO, which agrees with experimental results. Notably, these improvements are achieved in HZSO|HZO without compromising P r compared to HZO. This approach presents a new powerful route to engineering ferroelectric properties in doped HfO 2 , applicable to both epitaxial and polycrystalline films for future memory devices.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Ferroelectric and Negative Capacitance Devices · Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials · Semiconductor materials and devices
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy University of Cambridge 27 Charles Babbage Road Cambridge CB3 0FS United Kingdom
Physics Center of Minho and Porto Universities (CF‐UM‐UP) University of Minho Campus de Gualtar Braga 4710‐057 Portugal
Laboratory of Physics for Materials and Emergent Technologies, LapMET University of Minho Braga 4710‐057 Portugal
Center for Advanced Laser Techniques Institute of Physics Zagreb 10000 Croatia
Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology Samsung Electronics Suwon‐si 16678 South Korea
Funding
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council · Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge · Royal Academy of Engineering · Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology · HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council · Trinity College, University of Cambridge · Henry Royce Institute
References (76)
Show source-provided references
1. 10.1002/aelm.20220095110.1002/aelm.202200951 ↗
2. 10.1063/1.363641710.1063/1.3636417 ↗
3. Müller J. · J. Appl. Phys. · 2011 · 110 · 11
4. 10.1063/1.363405210.1063/1.3634052 ↗
5. 10.1063/5.014806810.1063/5.0148068 ↗
6. 10.1021/nl302049k10.1021/nl302049k ↗
7. 10.1088/1361-6528/ac189f10.1088/1361-6528/ac189f ↗
8. 10.1039/D4MH00153B10.1039/D4MH00153B ↗
9. 10.1038/s41586-024-07365-510.1038/s41586-024-07365-5 ↗
10. 10.1021/acsaelm.9b0025610.1021/acsaelm.9b00256 ↗
11. 10.1021/acsami.8b1876210.1021/acsami.8b18762 ↗
12. 10.1039/D0TC05853J10.1039/D0TC05853J ↗
13. 10.1039/D1TC05387F10.1039/D1TC05387F ↗
14. 10.1038/s41563-022-01282-610.1038/s41563-022-01282-6 ↗
15. 10.1038/s41467-024-49055-w10.1038/s41467-024-49055-w ↗
16. 10.1038/s41467-024-47194-810.1038/s41467-024-47194-8 ↗
17. 10.1038/s41563-018-0196-010.1038/s41563-018-0196-0 ↗
18. 10.1002/adma.20240603810.1002/adma.202406038 ↗
19. 10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b0283510.1021/acs.chemmater.7b02835 ↗
20. T.Schenk S.Mueller U.Schroeder R.Materlik A.Kersch M.Popovici C.Adelmann S. VanElshocht T.Mikolajick in2013 Proceedings of the European Solid‐State Device Research Conference (ESSDERC).IEEE 2013 pp.260–263.10.1109/ESSDERC.2013.6818868 ↗
21. Yao Y. · J. Appl. Phys. · 2019 · 126 · 15
22. 10.1063/1.505070010.1063/1.5050700 ↗
23. 10.1021/acsaelm.1c0067210.1021/acsaelm.1c00672 ↗
24. 10.1002/adfm.20110311910.1002/adfm.201103119 ↗
25. 10.1063/5.002970610.1063/5.0029706 ↗
26. 10.1103/PhysRevB.104.L18010210.1103/PhysRevB.104.L180102 ↗
27. 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.7.04441210.1103/PhysRevMaterials.7.044412 ↗
28. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.03620210.1103/PhysRevLett.133.036202 ↗
29. 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.03441510.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.034415 ↗
30. 10.1103/PhysRevB.79.12530510.1103/PhysRevB.79.125305 ↗
31. Knabe J. · Phys. Status Solidi A · 2023
32. 10.1002/advs.20240956610.1002/advs.202409566 ↗
33. 10.1002/adfm.20231439610.1002/adfm.202314396 ↗
34. 10.1002/aelm.20220031010.1002/aelm.202200310 ↗
35. 10.1002/apxr.20220010810.1002/apxr.202200108 ↗
36. 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c0026310.1021/acs.nanolett.4c00263 ↗
37. 10.1039/D2NR05935E10.1039/D2NR05935E ↗
38. 10.1021/acsaelm.1c0012210.1021/acsaelm.1c00122 ↗
39. 10.1039/D0NR02204G10.1039/D0NR02204G ↗
40. 10.1002/aelm.20210042010.1002/aelm.202100420 ↗
41. Lyu J. · Appl. Phys. Lett. · 2020 · 117 · 7
42. 10.1002/pssr.20200048110.1002/pssr.202000481 ↗
43. 10.1002/aelm.20240013610.1002/aelm.202400136 ↗
44. 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c0410410.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04104 ↗
45. 10.1063/5.009312510.1063/5.0093125 ↗
46. 10.1063/5.024559510.1063/5.0245595 ↗
47. 10.1126/science.abf378910.1126/science.abf3789 ↗
48. 10.1186/s40580-022-00344-410.1186/s40580-022-00344-4 ↗
49. Huang J.‐h. · J. Appl. Phys. · 2024 · 136 · 1
50. 10.1002/aelm.20230050910.1002/aelm.202300509 ↗
51. Skidmore C. H. · Nature · 2025 · 1
52. 10.1016/0167-2738(91)90073-K10.1016/0167-2738(91)90073-K ↗
53. 10.1021/acsaelm.0c0056010.1021/acsaelm.0c00560 ↗
54. 10.1063/1.508982110.1063/1.5089821 ↗
55. 10.1021/acsaelm.5c0093610.1021/acsaelm.5c00936 ↗
56. Kim J. S. · ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces · 2025
57. Meyer R. · Appl. Phys. Lett. · 2005 · 86 · 14
58. 10.1063/5.024353010.1063/5.0243530 ↗
59. 10.1021/acs.cgd.0c0009510.1021/acs.cgd.0c00095 ↗
60. 10.1063/1.233735610.1063/1.2337356 ↗
61. 10.1021/nl304229k10.1021/nl304229k ↗
62. 10.1038/s41467-022-34304-710.1038/s41467-022-34304-7 ↗
63. Jiang T. · Appl. Phys. Lett. · 2023 · 123 · 20
64. 10.1021/acsomega.4c0409910.1021/acsomega.4c04099 ↗
65. 10.1002/adma.20240857210.1002/adma.202408572 ↗
66. 10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c0080110.1021/acs.chemmater.3c00801 ↗
67. 10.1063/1.491670710.1063/1.4916707 ↗
68. 10.1063/1.502174610.1063/1.5021746 ↗
69. 10.1039/C6CP04694K10.1039/C6CP04694K ↗
70. 10.1103/PhysRevB.47.55810.1103/PhysRevB.47.558 ↗
71. 10.1103/PhysRevB.54.1116910.1103/PhysRevB.54.11169 ↗
72. 10.1016/0927-0256(96)00008-010.1016/0927-0256(96)00008-0 ↗
73. 10.1103/PhysRevB.59.175810.1103/PhysRevB.59.1758 ↗
74. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.13640610.1103/PhysRevLett.100.136406 ↗
75. 10.1063/1.132967210.1063/1.1329672 ↗
76. 10.1107/S002188981103897010.1107/S0021889811038970 ↗