Novel Electrical Characterization Method for Antiferroelectrics using a Positive Up Negative Down Approach

TL;DR

This paper introduces AFE-PUND, a novel electrical characterization method for antiferroelectric materials, enabling precise analysis of polarization, coercive fields, and microstructural effects across different film thicknesses.

Contribution

The study presents a revisited PUND protocol tailored for antiferroelectrics, allowing detailed insights into material properties and microstructural influences that were previously difficult to isolate.

Findings

Remanent polarization increases with film thickness.

Coercive fields decrease with film thickness.

The method reveals microstructural effects like defect accumulation and domain wall pinning.

Abstract

This study demonstrates the effectiveness of AFE-PUND, a revisited Positive Up Negative Down (PUND) protocol for characterizing antiferroelectric (AFE) materials, in analyzing $ZrO_2$ films across different thicknesses, revealing key trends. The proposed AFE-PUND method enables the isolation of switching currents from non-switching contributions, allowing precise extraction of remanent polarization and coercive field from hysteresis loops. The remanent polarization increases with film thickness, reflecting enhanced domain stability, while endurance cycles highlight the wake-up effect and its eventual degradation due to fatigue in thicker films. Similarly, coercive fields decrease with thickness, indicating reduced switching barriers and a clearer transition between tetragonal and orthorhombic phases. The method provides valuable insights into micro-structural influences, such as defect accumulation, grain size, and domain wall pinning, which critically affect device performance. AFE-PUND thus establishes itself as an essential tool for advancing the understanding and optimization of antiferroelectric materials.