R&D: Antiferroelectric Phase Evolution in HfxZr1-xO2 Thin Film Toward High Endurance of NVM Devices

IEEE Electron Device Letters has published an article written by Danyang Chen, Shuman Zhong, Yulong Dong, Tianning Cui, National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, and Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong university, Shanghai, China,Jingquan Liu, National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, Mengwei Si, Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, and Xiuyang Li, National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract: “In this study, we experimentally and theoretically demonstrated a universal pathway of hysteresis evolution in polarization switching cycling in both antiferroelectric (AFE) and ferroelectric (FE) Hf x Zr 1-x O 2 (HZO) thin films. AFE films can achieve sufficient remnant polarization and high endurance by engineering the evolution process of double hysteresis merge. Based on this, we propose a new strategy for realizing high-endurance AFE films in non-volatile memory devices. Additionally, a record high endurance >10 12 on 6 nm AFE HZO under full polarization switching conditions at 4.5 MV/cm and 1 MHz is achieved to demonstrate the potential of this strategy.“