Effect of forming gas annealing on the ferroelectric properties of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 thin films with and without Pt electrodes

The effects of forming gas annealing (FGA) on the ferroelectric properties of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) films were examined. Although the H-incorporation during FGA degrades the ferroelectric properties of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films, the degree of degradation was much lower compared with other ferroelectrics, such as Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3. Pt worked as a catalyst for H-incorporation, and maximum 2P(r) loss of similar to 40% occurred. However, the insertion of a similar to 20-nm-thick TiN layer between Pt and Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 decreased the degradation to similar to 12%. Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 is more resistant to degradation by FGA compared with the conventional ferroelectrics, which is a highly promising result for next-generation ferroelectric memory. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4798265]