Reducing Coercive Field and Improving Endurance in Ferroelectric Epitaxial Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ Thin Films via Novel Interface Layer Approach.

ABSTRACT: Ferroelectric doped hafnium oxide (HfO₂) 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 a

SUBMITTER: Kim JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12850052 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature