Emergent ferroelectricity in subnanometer binary oxide films on silicon.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35536900.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.abm8642.
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Abstract
The critical size limit of voltage-switchable electric dipoles has extensive implications for energy-efficient electronics, underlying the importance of ferroelectric order stabilized at reduced dimensionality. We report on the thickness-dependent antiferroelectric-to-ferroelectric phase transition in zirconium dioxide (ZrO<sub>2</sub>) thin films on silicon. The emergent ferroelectricity and hysteretic polarization switching in ultrathin ZrO<sub>2</sub>, conventionally a paraelectric material, notably persists down to a film thickness of 5 angstroms, the fluorite-structure unit-cell size. This approach to exploit three-dimensional centrosymmetric materials deposited down to the two-dimensional thickness limit, particularly within this model fluorite-structure system that possesses unconventional ferroelectric size effects, offers substantial promise for electronics, demonstrated by proof-of-principle atomic-scale nonvolatile ferroelectric memory on silicon. Additionally, it is also indicative of hidden electronic phenomena that are achievable across a wide class of simple binary materials.