Reducing Coercive Field and Improving Endurance in Ferroelectric Epitaxial Hf <sub>0.5</sub> Zr <sub>0.5</sub> O <sub>2</sub> Thin Films via Novel Interface Layer Approach
Ferroelectric doped hafnium oxide (HfO<sub>2</sub>) has emerged as CMOS-compatible and scalable ferroelectric for next-generation memory/in-memory computing devices. However, its high coercive field (E<sub>c</sub>) and limited endurance remain key obstacles. Here, a ≈25% reduction in E<sub>c</sub> from 3.3 to 2.5 MV/cm and an order of magnitude increase in endurance by implementing an ultrathin (≈2 nm) 5 at.% Sm-doped HZO (HZSO) ionic conducting underlayer for HZO are shown. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results reveal the absence of redox effects during primary ferroelectric switching in HZSO, unlike in HZO. NEB calculations show that V<sub>O</sub>-rich HZSO lowers the switching barrier compared to that of HZO, which agrees with experimental results. Notably, these improvements are achieved in HZSO|HZO without compromising P<sub>r</sub> compared to HZO. This approach presents a new powerful route to engineering ferroelectric properties in doped HfO<sub>2</sub>, applicable to both epitaxial and polycrystalline films for future memory devices.
Authors
- Benedetta Gaggio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7561-9106)
- Judith L. MacManus‐Driscoll (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4987-6620)
- Duk‐Hyun Choe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2775-8976)
- Veniero Lenzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3633-1966)
- Simon M. Fairclough (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3781-8212)
- Babak Bakhit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3083-7536)
- Nives Strkalj (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8293-8577)
- José Silva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3485-7032)
- Ji Soo Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7801-8302)
Institutions
- Samsung (South Korea) (KR)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Institute for Advanced Laser Dentistry (US)
- Institute of Physics (HR)
- University of Minho (PT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2025-11-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202517314
- Primary Topic
- Ferroelectric and Negative Capacitance Devices
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
- Henry Royce Institute
- Royal Academy of Engineering
- European Commission
- Lunds Universitet
- Samsung
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Trinity College, University of Cambridge
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
- Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge
- HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions