Controllable Coercive Field of Ferroelectric HfO2 UV-Ozone Surface Modification

The endurance limitation related to high coercive fields (E-c) has been one of the substantial challenges to future memory applications of ferroelectric HfO2 films. In this work, we demonstrate a simple, efficient, and accurate method to regulate the E-c value of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) films via interface modification through ultraviolet-ozone (UV-O-3) irradiation on the surface of bottom electrode. Growth behaviors and ferroelectricity of HZO films were systematically investigated by varying UV-O-3 irradiation time. HZO samples show a well-controlled E-c upon a suitable UV-O-3 irradiation time. Compared with the w/o sample, the E-c value of 30-min irradiated sample drops by similar to 29.5%, and a comparatively high 2P(r) of 28.6 mu C/cm(2) remains. The tuning of E-c is clarified to be due to the ratio change of orthogonal and tetragonal phases in HZO films, which can be well controlled by the change of surface energy of the bottom electrode via varying the UV-O-3 irradiation time.

Automated summary

We demonstrate a simple and efficient method to regulate the high coercive field (Ec) value of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) films through interface modification. By varying the ultraviolet-ozone (UV-O-3) irradiation time, we achieve well-controlled Ec values and maintain a relatively high 2P(r) level.