Structural evolution of nanoscale ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 layers as a result of their cyclic electrical stimulation

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Abstract

Despite the large number of already published articles on the topic of ferroelectric properties of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO), this material still attracts enormous attention of the scientific community due to the prospects for creating competitive non-volatile HZO-based memory devices compatible with modern silicon technology. Among the difficulties on the way to creating industrial technology for such devices is the instability of the residual polarization of the ferroelectric during multiple switching by an external electric field. In particular, at the initial stages of such “cycling”, as a rule, a significant increase in residual polarization is observed (the so-called “wake-up” effect), and then, after a certain number of cycles, its decrease (the so-called “fatigue” effect). The question of what processes lead to such instability remains debatable. Using the previously developed methodology for analyzing the phase composition of ultrathin HZO layers by the NEXAFS synchrotron radiation method, it is shown that in capacitors based on TiN/HZO/TiN structures, the “wake-up” effect observed during the first 105 switching cycles is explained by an increase in the relative content of the polar orthorhombic phase in HZO due to a decrease in the content of the “parasitic” tetragonal phase. The obtained results confirm the electric field-stimulated structural phase transition in films as one of the mechanisms explaining the evolution of the functional properties of ferroelectric memory elements based on HZO throughout their service life.

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About the authors

L. L. Lev

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Author for correspondence.
Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, Dolgoprudny, Moscow oblast

A. S. Konashuk

Institute of Physics, St. Petersburg State University

Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

R. R. Khakimov

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, Dolgoprudny, Moscow oblast

A. G. Chernikova

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, Dolgoprudny, Moscow oblast

A. М. Markeev

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, Dolgoprudny, Moscow oblast

A. M. Lebedev

Kurchatov Complex for Synchrotron and Neutron Investigations, National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”

Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

V. G. Nazin

Kurchatov Complex for Synchrotron and Neutron Investigations, National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”

Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

R. G. Chumakov

Kurchatov Complex for Synchrotron and Neutron Investigations, National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”

Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

A. V. Zenkevich

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Email: lev.ll@mipt.ru
Russian Federation, Dolgoprudny, Moscow oblast

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Supplementary files

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2. Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of layers in samples studied by NEXAFS (a); template for the manufacture of ferroelectric capacitors (b).

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3. Fig. 2. P–V curves measured by integrating the current responses to a 2.5 kHz triangular voltage sweep for the initial TiN/HZO/TiN capacitor structure (1) and after its “awakening” (2) by applying 105 bipolar trapezoidal pulses with a duration/amplitude of 3 μs/3.0 V (a); dependence of the residual polarization 2Pr on the number of switching pulses (b).

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4. Fig. 3. OK (1s) absorption spectra in the HZO layer in the initial state (1) and after “awakening” (105 switching pulses), taken at two different points (2) and (3) (a). The same spectra on an enlarged scale (b).

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