Ferroelectricity in undoped HfO2 down to one-unit-cell on Si substrate

TL;DR

This study demonstrates stable ferroelectricity in undoped HfO2 films as thin as one unit-cell on Si substrates, achieved through atomic layer deposition and post-heat treatment, expanding potential for miniaturized electronic devices.

Contribution

It reports the first observation of robust ferroelectricity in undoped HfO2 films down to one-unit-cell thickness on Si, without doping or complex stabilization methods.

Findings

Ferroelectricity persists in undoped HfO2 films down to 0.5 nm thickness.

The ferroelectric phase contains about 4.48% oxygen vacancies.

Stable polarization is observed even with coexistence of monoclinic phase.

Abstract

Hafnium oxide (HfO2), particularly at low-dimensional scales, exhibits extensive promising applications in ultrahigh density devices like low-power logic and non-volatile memory devices due to its compatibility with current semiconductor technology1-5. However, achieving ferroelectricity (FE) at ultimate scale especially in undoped HfO2 remains challenging as the non-centrosymmetric FE phase, so-called O-III (space group: Pca21) is metastable and FE has a strong tendency of depolarization with the decrease in thickness6. Up to now, this phase has usually stabilized via doping with other elements7-9. But the minimum film thickness is still limited to 1 nm, about 2-unit-cell, to keep FE8. Thinner and undoped films, conducive to further miniature device size and avoid contamination during deposition process, have been a challenge to fabricate on Si substrates. Herein, we report the robust FE observed in undoped HfO2 ultrathin films directly grown on Si substrate via atomic layer deposition (ALD) and post-heat treat in vacuum. The so-fabricated ferroelectric O-III phase contains about 4.48 at% oxygen vacancy, is robust even monoclinic phase (space group: P21/c) coexists. The spontaneous and switchable polarization is remarkably stable, still surviving even in films down to 0.5 nm (one-unit-cell). Our results show the robust FE O-III phase can be obtained in films down to one-unit-cell in thickness on Si, providing a practical way to fabricating this important material in thickness limit.