Ferroelectricity emerging in strained (111)-textured ZrO{sub 2} thin films

Journal Article · Mon Jan 04 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4939660· OSTI ID:22489251

Fan, Zhen; Deng, Jinyu; Liu, Ziyan; Xiao, Juanxiu; Yan, Xiaobing; Wang, John; Chen, Jingsheng ^[1]; Wang, Jingxian; Dong, Zhili ^[2]; Yang, Ping ^[3]

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1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117575 (Singapore)
2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798 (Singapore)
3. Singapore Synchrotron Light Source, National University of Singapore, 5 Research Link, Singapore 117603 (Singapore)

(Anti-)ferroelectricity in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible binary oxides have attracted considerable research interest recently. Here, we show that by using substrate-induced strain, the orthorhombic phase and the desired ferroelectricity could be achieved in ZrO{sub 2} thin films. Our theoretical analyses suggest that the strain imposed on the ZrO{sub 2} (111) film by the TiN/MgO (001) substrate would energetically favor the tetragonal (t) and orthorhombic (o) phases over the monoclinic (m) phase of ZrO{sub 2}, and the compressive strain along certain 〈11-2〉 directions may further stabilize the o-phase. Experimentally ZrO{sub 2} thin films are sputtered onto the MgO (001) substrates buffered by epitaxial TiN layers. ZrO{sub 2} thin films exhibit t- and o-phases, which are highly (111)-textured and strained, as evidenced by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Both polarization-electric field (P-E) loops and corresponding current responses to voltage stimulations measured with appropriate applied fields reveal the ferroelectric sub-loop behavior of the ZrO{sub 2} films at certain thicknesses, confirming that the ferroelectric o-phase has been developed in the strained (111)-textured ZrO{sub 2} films. However, further increasing the applied field leads to the disappearance of ferroelectric hysteresis, the possible reasons of which are discussed.

• OSTI ID: 22489251
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
EPITAXY
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
MONOCLINIC LATTICES
ORTHORHOMBIC LATTICES
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
STRAINS
SUBSTRATES
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
TITANIUM NITRIDES
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
ZIRCONIUM OXIDES