Robust room-temperature ferroelectricity in the wide-bandgap semiconductor Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41671368.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aec5225 and PMC identifier 12893288.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
For decades, the integration of power handling and nonvolatile memory has been fundamentally impeded by the incompatibility between wide-bandgap semiconductors and ferroelectric materials. We resolve this challenge by demonstrating robust room-temperature ferroelectricity in epitaxial metastable κ-Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, grown via industry-compatible metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, creating an intrinsically ferroelectric wide-bandgap semiconductor. Through systematic characterization including piezoresponse force microscopy, polarization hysteresis measurements, and positive up-negative down tests, we provide conclusive evidence of stable ferroelectric switching down to 5-nanometer thickness-exceeding conventional ferroelectric limits-via a unique octahedral-tetrahedral transformation. Ferroelectric tunnel junctions achieve giant tunneling electroresistance exceeding 10<sup>5</sup>. This fundamental discovery in a mainstream semiconductor challenges conventional materials paradigms and enables monolithic integration of power and memory functionalities on a unified platform.