Write cycling endurance exceeding 10<sup>10</sup> in sub-50 nm ferroelectric AlScN.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41513656.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-68221-2 and PMC identifier 12890956.
- 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
Wurtzite ferroelectrics, particularly aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN), have emerged as a promising material platform for non-volatile memories, offering high polarization values exceeding 100 μC/cm<sup>2</sup>. However, their high coercive fields (>3 MV/cm) have limited cycling endurance to ~10<sup>7</sup> cycles in previous reports. Here, we demonstrate unprecedented control of polarization switching in AlScN, achieving write cycling endurance exceeding 10<sup>10</sup> cycles-a thousand-fold improvement over previous wurtzite ferroelectric benchmarks. Through precise voltage modulation in 45 nm-thick Al<sub>0.64</sub>Sc<sub>0.36</sub>N capacitors, we show that while complete polarization reversal (2P<sub>r</sub> ≈ 200 μC/cm<sup>2</sup>) sustains ~10<sup>8</sup> cycles, partial switching extends endurance beyond 10<sup>10</sup> cycles while maintaining a substantial polarization (>30 μC/cm<sup>2</sup> for 2P<sub>r</sub>). This exceptional endurance, combined with breakdown fields approaching 10 MV/cm in optimized 10 μm diameter devices, represents the highest reported values for any wurtzite ferroelectric. Our findings establish a new paradigm for reliability in nitride ferroelectrics, demonstrating that controlled partial polarization and size scaling enables both high endurance and energy-efficient operation.