Thermal retention of atomic layer deposited Hf_0.5Zr_0.50₂ films using H₂O and O₂–H₂ plasma oxidation methods

Thermal retention of ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO) is a critical reliability concern impacting its use in applications such as field-effect transistors, random-access memory, and tunnel junctions. depolarization thermal imprint are explored for 10 nm thick Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films. The HZO films were fabricated through atomic layer deposition with two different oxidizing conditions, H2O or sequential O2 H2-plasmas. A similar virgin state switched polarization ∼30 μC/cm2 was found by annealing the at 700 °C O2–H2 plasma 500 °C. Both exhibited same P–U |N–D| values above 25 after 100 h 125 For opposite polarization, however, showed asymmetric shifts coercive fields subsequent loss °C, while symmetric fields,