Enhanced Switching Reliability of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Ferroelectric Films Induced by Interface Engineering

Huang, Fei; Saini, Balreen; Yu, Zhouchangwan; Yoo, Chanyoung; Thampy, Vivek; He, Xiaoqing; Baniecki, John D.; Tsai, Wilman; Meng, Andrew C.; McIntyre, Paul C.; Wong, Simon

doi:10.1021/acsami.3c08895

Enhanced Switching Reliability of Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ Ferroelectric Films Induced by Interface Engineering

Journal Article · Thu Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.3c08895· OSTI ID:2315703

^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]; Yoo, Chanyoung ^[2]; Thampy, Vivek ^[3]; He, Xiaoqing ^[4]; Baniecki, John D. ^[3]; ^[1]; ^[4]; ^[2]; Wong, Simon ^[1]

Stanford University, CA (United States)
Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)

Ferroelectric materials have been widely researched for applications in memory and energy storage. Among these materials and benefiting from their excellent chemical compatibility with complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) devices, hafnia-based ferroelectric thin films hold great promise for highly scaled semiconductor memories, including nonvolatile ferroelectric capacitors and transistors. However, variation in the switched polarization of this material during field cycling and a limited understanding of the responsible mechanisms have impeded their implementation in technology. Here, we show that ferroelectric Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ (HZO) capacitors that are nearly free of polarization “wake-up”─a gradual increase in switched polarization as a function of the number of switching cycles─can be achieved by introducing ultrathin HfO₂ buffer layers at the HZO/electrodes interface. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) reveals crystallite sizes substantially greater than the film thickness for the buffer layer capacitors, indicating that the presence of the buffer layers influences the crystallization of the film (e.g., a lower ratio of nucleation rate to growth rate) during postdeposition annealing. This evidently promotes the formation of a polar orthorhombic (O) phase in the as-fabricated buffer layer samples. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals the conversion of the nonpolar tetragonal (T) phase to the polar orthorhombic (O) phase during electric field cycling in the control (no buffer) devices, consistent with the polarization wake-up observed for these capacitors. The extent of T–O transformation in the nonbuffer samples is directly dependent on the duration over which the field is applied. Here these results provide insight into the role of the HZO/electrodes interface in the performance of hafnia-based ferroelectrics and the mechanisms driving the polarization wake-up effect.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); Semiconductor Research Corporation; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; ECCS-2026822

OSTI ID:: 2315703

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 15, Issue 43; ISSN 1944-8244

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (36)

Field‐Induced Ferroelectric Phase Evolution During Polarization “Wake‐Up” in Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ Thin Film Capacitors Saini, Balreen; Huang, Fei; Choi, Yoon‐Young Advanced Electronic Materials, Vol. 9, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202300016	journal	April 2023
3D Scalable, Wake-up Free, and Highly Reliable FRAM Technology with Stress-Engineered HfZrO_x Lin, Y. D.; Sheu, S. S.; Hou, T. H. 2019 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) https://doi.org/10.1109/IEDM19573.2019.8993504	conference	December 2019
Evidence for oxygen vacancies movement during wake-up in ferroelectric hafnium oxide Starschich, S.; Menzel, S.; Böttger, U. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4940370	journal	January 2016
A 28nm HKMG super low power embedded NVM technology based on ferroelectric FETs Trentzsch, M.; Flachowsky, S.; Richter, R. 2016 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) https://doi.org/10.1109/IEDM.2016.7838397	conference	December 2016
On the Origin of Wake‐Up and Antiferroelectric‐Like Behavior in Ferroelectric Hafnium Oxide Lederer, Maximilian; Olivo, Ricardo; Lehninger, David physica status solidi (RRL) – Rapid Research Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.202100086	journal	May 2021
Wake‐Up Mechanisms in Ferroelectric Lanthanum‐Doped Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ Thin Films Mehmood, Furqan; Mikolajick, Thomas; Schroeder, Uwe physica status solidi (a), Vol. 217, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.202000281	journal	September 2020
Nanocrystallite Seeding of Metastable Ferroelectric Phase Formation in Atomic Layer-Deposited Hafnia–Zirconia Alloys Yu, Zhouchangwan; Saini, Balreen; Liu, Yunzhi ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 14, Issue 47 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c15047	journal	November 2022
Large Remnant Polarization in a Wake-Up Free Hf _0.5 Zr _0.5 O ₂ Ferroelectric Film through Bulk and Interface Engineering Kashir, Alireza; Kim, Hyungwoo; Oh, Seungyeol ACS Applied Electronic Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.0c00671	journal	January 2021
Ferroelectric Zr _0.5 Hf _0.5 O ₂ thin films for nonvolatile memory applications Müller, J.; Böscke, T. S.; Bräuhaus, D. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3636417	journal	September 2011
Atomic tailoring of low-thermal-budget and nearly wake-up-free ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 nanoscale thin films by atomic layer annealing Chang, Teng-Jan; Jiang, Yu-Sen; Yi, Sheng-Han Applied Surface Science, Vol. 591 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.153110	journal	July 2022
Microstructural evolution of ZrO ₂ –HfO ₂ nanolaminate structures grown by atomic layer deposition Kim, Hyoungsub; McIntyre, Paul C.; Saraswat, Krishna C. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 19, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2004.19.2.643	journal	February 2004
Measurement of Ferroelectric Properties of Nanometer Scaled Individual Metal/Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂/Metal Capacitors Huang, Fei; Passlack, Matthias; Liew, San Lin IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1109/led.2021.3136309	journal	February 2022
Phase-Exchange-Driven Wake-Up and Fatigue in Ferroelectric Hafnium Zirconium Oxide Films Fields, Shelby S.; Smith, Sean W.; Ryan, Philip J. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 12, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c03570	journal	May 2020
Ferroelectricity mediated by ferroelastic domain switching in HfO ₂ -based epitaxial thin films Shimizu, Takao; Mimura, Takanori; Kiguchi, Takanori Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 113, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5055258	journal	November 2018
Ferroelectricity in undoped hafnium oxide Polakowski, Patrick; Müller, Johannes Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4922272	journal	June 2015
Enhanced Second Harmonic Generation from Ferroelectric HfO ₂ -Based Hybrid Metasurfaces Qin, Jun; Huang, Fei; Li, Xinyue ACS Nano https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.8b06308	journal	January 2019
Size-dependent polymorphism in HfO2 nanotubes and nanoscale thin films Shandalov, Michael; McIntyre, Paul C. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 106, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3243077	journal	October 2009
Evolution of ferroelectric HfO2 in ultrathin region down to 3 nm Tian, Xuan; Shibayama, Shigehisa; Nishimura, Tomonori Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5017094	journal	March 2018
Enhanced ferroelectricity in ultrathin films grown directly on silicon Cheema, Suraj S.; Kwon, Daewoong; Shanker, Nirmaan Nature, Vol. 580, Issue 7804 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2208-x	journal	April 2020
Scaling Effects in Perovskite Ferroelectrics: Fundamental Limits and Process-Structure-Property Relations Ihlefeld, Jon F.; Harris, David T.; Keech, Ryan Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 99, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.14387	journal	July 2016
Improved Reliability for Back-End-of-Line Compatible Ferroelectric Capacitor With 3 Bits/Cell Storage Capability by Interface Engineering and Post Deposition Annealing Peng, Hao-Kai; Lai, Ting-Chieh; Kao, Yu-Cheng IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1109/led.2022.3218253	journal	December 2022
Hafnia-Based FeRAM: A Path Toward Ultra-High Density for Next-Generation High-Speed Embedded Memory Haratipour, Nazila; Chang, Sou-Chi; Shivaraman, Shriram 2022 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) https://doi.org/10.1109/IEDM45625.2022.10019560	conference	December 2022
Tunneling electroresistance effect in a Pt/Hf _0.5 Zr _0.5 O ₂ /Pt structure Ambriz-Vargas, F.; Kolhatkar, G.; Thomas, R. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4977028	journal	February 2017
High-k dielectrics for future generation memory devices (Invited Paper) Kittl, J. A.; Opsomer, K.; Popovici, M. Microelectronic Engineering, Vol. 86, Issue 7-9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2009.03.045	journal	July 2009
Large thermal hysteresis of ferroelectric transition in HfO₂-based ferroelectric films Mimura, Takanori; Shimizu, Takao; Sakata, Osami Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 118, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0040934	journal	March 2021
Modulating the Ferroelectricity of Hafnium Zirconium Oxide Ultrathin Films via Interface Engineering to Control the Oxygen Vacancy Distribution Lee, Joonbong; Song, Myeong Seop; Jang, Woo‐Sung Advanced Materials Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202101647	journal	January 2022
Ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide thin films Böscke, T. S.; Müller, J.; Bräuhaus, D. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3634052	journal	September 2011
The future of ferroelectric field-effect transistor technology Khan, Asif Islam; Keshavarzi, Ali; Datta, Suman Nature Electronics, Vol. 3, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00492-7	journal	October 2020
Origin of Temperature-Dependent Ferroelectricity in Si-Doped HfO ₂ Park, Min Hyuk; Chung, Ching-Chang; Schenk, Tony Advanced Electronic Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.201700489	journal	March 2018
Ferroelectric Tunneling Junctions Based on Aluminum Oxide/ Zirconium-Doped Hafnium Oxide for Neuromorphic Computing Ryu, Hojoon; Wu, Haonan; Rao, Fubo Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-56816-x	journal	December 2019
Significant improvement of ferroelectricity and reliability in Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films by inserting an ultrathin Al2O3 buffer layer Chen, Haiyan; Tang, Lin; Liu, Leyang Applied Surface Science, Vol. 542 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.148737	journal	March 2021
Enhancing ferroelectricity in dopant-free hafnium oxide Pal, Ashish; Narasimhan, Vijay Kris; Weeks, Stephen Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973928	journal	January 2017
Wake-up effects in Si-doped hafnium oxide ferroelectric thin films Zhou, Dayu; Xu, Jin; Li, Qing Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4829064	journal	November 2013
Wake-Up Free La-Doped HfO₂-ZrO₂ Ferroelectrics Achieved With an Atomic Layer-Specific Doping Technique Weng, Zeping; Qu, Yiming; Lan, Zhangsheng IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1109/led.2022.3203472	journal	October 2022
Comparative Study on Electrical and Microstructural Characteristics of ZrO₂ and HfO₂ Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition Kim, Hyoungsub; Saraswat, Krishna C.; McIntyre, Paul C. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 20, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2005.0394	journal	November 2005
Ferroelectric field-effect transistors based on HfO₂: a review Mulaosmanovic, Halid; Breyer, Evelyn T.; Dünkel, Stefan Nanotechnology, Vol. 32, Issue 50 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/ac189f	journal	September 2021

Similar Records

Field–Induced Ferroelectric Phase Evolution During Polarization “Wake–Up” in Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ Thin Film Capacitors

Journal Article · Wed Apr 19 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Advanced Electronic Materials · OSTI ID:1970785

Saini, Balreen; Huang, Fei; Choi, Yoon‐Young; +5 more

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ferroelectric
hafnium oxide
wake-up
phase transition
interface engineering

Enhanced Switching Reliability of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Ferroelectric Films Induced by Interface Engineering

Citation Formats

References (36)

Similar Records

Related Subjects

Enhanced Switching Reliability of Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ Ferroelectric Films Induced by Interface Engineering