Science Daily October 11, 2022
To save energy in computing by co-locating computation and memory elements in an integrated circuit manufacturing, a team of researchers in the US (University of Virginia, Washington State University, North Carolina State University, Sandia National Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, Brown University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory) explained how to engineer and enhance the stability of ferroelectric hafnium oxides, which are compatible with mainstream semiconductors. They showed that the presence of the top electrode during thermal processing results in larger tensile biaxial stress magnitudes and concomitant increases in ferroelectric phase fraction and polarization response, whereas film chemistry, microstructure, and crystallization temperature are not affected. They showed that the top electrode locally inhibits out-of-plane expansion in the HZO during crystallization, which prevents equilibrium monoclinic phase formation and stabilizes the orthorhombic phase. This study provides a mechanistic understanding of the clamping effect and orthorhombic phase formation in ferroelectric hafnium oxide-based thin films, which informs the future design of these materials to maximize ferroelectric phase purity and corresponding polarization behavior…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE  1 ,  Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE 2
Graphical abstract. Credit: Acta Materialia, Volume 239, 15 October 2022, 118220Â