Thermosensitive Elastic Depinning Kinetics in Ultrathin Ferroelectric Hf x Zr 1−x O 2 Films for Self‐Revoking Cryogenic Memory
ABSTRACT Ultrathin Hf x Zr 1−x O 2 (HZO) films offer a promising platform for low‐voltage, high‐density memory, yet their cryogenic behavior remains largely unexplored. Here, we report thermosensitive ferroelectric switching in 4‐nm HZO films. Pristine devices exhibit a reversible antiferroelectric‐like to ferroelectric‐like transition on cooling from room to cryogenic temperature. By contrast, post‐wake‐up films maintain stable ferroelectricity across the same temperature range. Structural characterizations exclude phase transitions as the origin. Instead, combined electrical measurements with finite‐element and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations reveal that interfacial charge pinning and polarization‐switching kinetics govern this behavior. Leveraging these mechanisms, we demonstrate a secure cryogenic memory platform compatible with both ferroelectric capacitor and field‐effect transistor architectures. This platform supports conventional non‐volatile storage at cryogenic temperatures and automatic data revocation at room temperature without external erase circuitry. These findings elucidate the kinetic switching landscape of ultrathin HZO and provide a physics‐based foundation for next‐generation cryogenic and hardware‐secure memory technologies.
Authors
- Haoyu Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7987-2239)
- Yingfen Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2037-4440)
- Wenwu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9307-1566)
- Shiyu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2971-9516)
- Can Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3795-2008)
- Xiaodong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0426-1358)
- Qi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7062-831X)
- Hao Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2110-0057)
- Yu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1520-8993)
- Xumeng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3828-151X)
- Guan Feng
- Xianzhe Chen
- Ming Liu
Institutions
- Fudan University (CN)
- San’an Optoelectronics (China) (CN)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Published
- 2026-09-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.78487
- Primary Topic
- Ferroelectric and Negative Capacitance Devices
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Kementerian Pendidikan
- National Key Research and Development Program of China