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Enhanced ferroelectricity in ultrathin films grown directly on silicon

Author

Listed:
  • Suraj S. Cheema

    (University of California)

  • Daewoong Kwon

    (University of California
    Inha University)

  • Nirmaan Shanker

    (University of California
    University of California)

  • Roberto Reis

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Shang-Lin Hsu

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Jun Xiao

    (University of California)

  • Haigang Zhang

    (Oxford Instruments)

  • Ryan Wagner

    (Oxford Instruments)

  • Adhiraj Datar

    (University of California
    University of California)

  • Margaret R. McCarter

    (University of California, Berkeley)

  • Claudy R. Serrao

    (University of California)

  • Ajay K. Yadav

    (University of California)

  • Golnaz Karbasian

    (University of California)

  • Cheng-Hsiang Hsu

    (University of California)

  • Ava J. Tan

    (University of California)

  • Li-Chen Wang

    (University of California)

  • Vishal Thakare

    (University of California)

  • Xiang Zhang

    (University of California)

  • Apurva Mehta

    (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

  • Evguenia Karapetrova

    (Argonne National Laboratory)

  • Rajesh V Chopdekar

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Padraic Shafer

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Elke Arenholz

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    Cornell University)

  • Chenming Hu

    (University of California)

  • Roger Proksch

    (Oxford Instruments)

  • Ramamoorthy Ramesh

    (University of California
    University of California, Berkeley)

  • Jim Ciston

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Sayeef Salahuddin

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Abstract

Ultrathin ferroelectric materials could potentially enable low-power logic and nonvolatile memories1,2. As ferroelectric materials are made thinner, however, the ferroelectricity is usually suppressed. Size effects in ferroelectrics have been thoroughly investigated in perovskite oxides—the archetypal ferroelectric system3. Perovskites, however, have so far proved unsuitable for thickness scaling and integration with modern semiconductor processes4. Here we report ferroelectricity in ultrathin doped hafnium oxide (HfO2), a fluorite-structure oxide grown by atomic layer deposition on silicon. We demonstrate the persistence of inversion symmetry breaking and spontaneous, switchable polarization down to a thickness of one nanometre. Our results indicate not only the absence of a ferroelectric critical thickness but also enhanced polar distortions as film thickness is reduced, unlike in perovskite ferroelectrics. This approach to enhancing ferroelectricity in ultrathin layers could provide a route towards polarization-driven memories and ferroelectric-based advanced transistors. This work shifts the search for the fundamental limits of ferroelectricity to simpler transition-metal oxide systems—that is, from perovskite-derived complex oxides to fluorite-structure binary oxides—in which ‘reverse’ size effects counterintuitively stabilize polar symmetry in the ultrathin regime.

Suggested Citation

  • Suraj S. Cheema & Daewoong Kwon & Nirmaan Shanker & Roberto Reis & Shang-Lin Hsu & Jun Xiao & Haigang Zhang & Ryan Wagner & Adhiraj Datar & Margaret R. McCarter & Claudy R. Serrao & Ajay K. Yadav & Go, 2020. "Enhanced ferroelectricity in ultrathin films grown directly on silicon," Nature, Nature, vol. 580(7804), pages 478-482, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:580:y:2020:i:7804:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2208-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2208-x
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Longju Yu & Hong Jian Zhao & Peng Chen & Laurent Bellaiche & Yanming Ma, 2023. "The anti-symmetric and anisotropic symmetric exchange interactions between electric dipoles in hafnia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Yi Hu & Lukas Rogée & Weizhen Wang & Lyuchao Zhuang & Fangyi Shi & Hui Dong & Songhua Cai & Beng Kang Tay & Shu Ping Lau, 2023. "Extendable piezo/ferroelectricity in nonstoichiometric 2D transition metal dichalcogenides," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Congqin Zheng & Xin Li & Wei Li & Tiantian Chen & Fu Lv & Yuhui Huang & Qian Li & Yongjun Wu & Zijian Hong, 2024. "A molecular ferroelectric thin film of imidazolium perchlorate on silicon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.

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