Vanadium-Doped Hafnium Oxide: A High-Endurance Ferroelectric Thin Film with Demonstrated Negative Capacitance.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39918289.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c05671 and PMC identifier 11849039.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
This study proposes and validates a novel CMOS-compatible ferroelectric thin-film insulator made of vanadium-doped hafnium oxide (V:HfO<sub>2</sub>) by using an optimized atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. Comparative electrical performance analysis of metal-ferroelectric-metal capacitors with varying V-doping concentrations, along with advanced material characterizations, confirmed the ferroelectric behavior and reliability of V:HfO<sub>2</sub>. With remnant polarization (<i>P</i><sub>r</sub>) values up to 20 μC/cm<sup>2</sup>, a coercive field (<i>E</i><sub>c</sub>) of 1.5 MV/cm, excellent endurance (>10<sup>11</sup> cycles without failure, extrapolated to 10<sup>12</sup> cycles), projected 10-year nonvolatile retention (>100 days measured), and large grain sizes of ∼180 nm, V:HfO<sub>2</sub> emerges as a promising robust candidate for nonvolatile memory and neuromorphic applications. Importantly, negative capacitance (NC) effects were observed and analyzed in V:HfO<sub>2</sub> through pulsed measurements, demonstrating its potential for NC applications. Finally, this novel ferroelectric shows potential as a gating insulator for future 3-terminal vanadium dioxide Mott-insulator devices and sensors, achieved through an all-ALD process.