Mixed Al and Si doping in ferroelectric HfO{sub 2} thin films

Journal Article · Mon Dec 14 04:00:00 EST 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4937588· OSTI ID:22486242

Lomenzo, Patrick D.; Nishida, Toshikazu ^[1]; Takmeel, Qanit ^[2]; Zhou, Chuanzhen ^[3]; Chung, Ching-Chang; Jones, Jacob L. ^[4]; Moghaddam, Saeed ^[5]

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1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)
2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)
3. Analytical Instrumentation Center, College of Engineering at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27696 (United States)
4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27696 (United States)
5. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)

Ferroelectric HfO{sub 2} thin films 10 nm thick are simultaneously doped with Al and Si. The arrangement of the Al and Si dopant layers within the HfO{sub 2} greatly influences the resulting ferroelectric properties of the polycrystalline thin films. Optimizing the order of the Si and Al dopant layers led to a remanent polarization of ∼20 μC/cm{sup 2} and a coercive field strength of ∼1.2 MV/cm. Post-metallization anneal temperatures from 700 °C to 900 °C were used to crystallize the Al and Si doped HfO{sub 2} thin films. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction detected differences in peak broadening between the mixed Al and Si doped HfO{sub 2} thin films, indicating that strain may influence the formation of the ferroelectric phase with variations in the dopant layering. Endurance characteristics show that the mixed Al and Si doped HfO{sub 2} thin films exhibit a remanent polarization greater than 15 μC/cm{sup 2} up to 10{sup 8} cycles.

• OSTI ID: 22486242
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 24 Vol. 107; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
DOPED MATERIALS
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
HAFNIUM OXIDES
LAYERS
OPTIMIZATION
POLARIZATION
POLYCRYSTALS
STRAINS
THIN FILMS
VARIATIONS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION