Prof. Yunseok Kim’s research team demonstrates a new strategy for highly enhanced ferroelectricty in HfO2-based ferroelectrics using ion bombardment

- Published in ‘Science’

- These findings open pathways for nanoengineered binary ferroelectrics and subsequent ferroelectric-seminconductor integration.

     The research team* of Professor Yunseok Kim demonstrate a way to highly enhance ferroelecticity of HfO2-based ferroelectrics using ion bombardment.

     * Co-corresponding authors : Prof. Young-Min Kim(SKKU), Dr. Jinseung Heo (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology), Dr. Sergei Kalinin (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA)

     Continuous advancement in nonvolatile and morphotropic beyond-Moore electronic devices necessitates the development of strategies that utilize the wealth of functionalities of complex materials at extremely reduced dimensions.

     The discovery of ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide (HfO2)–based ferroelectrics that are compatible with the semiconductor process has opened interesting and promising avenues of research. However, the origins of ferroelectricity and pathways to controlling it in HfO2-based ferroelectrics are still mysterious.

     We report that local ion bombardment can activate ferroelectricity in these materials. The possible competing mechanisms, including ion–induced molar volume changes, vacancy redistribution, vacancy generation, and activation of vacancy mobility, are discussed.

     These findings including the variation of ferroelectricity through defect engineering based on ion bombardment suggest additional possibilities for ferroelectricity enhancement in HfO2-based ferroelectrics. Furthermore, this approach can be directly applied to a semiconductor process without structural modification and, thus, can increase its applicability in next-generation electronic devices, such as ultrascaled ferroelectrics-based transistors and memories.

     Paper

     ￮ “Highly enhanced ferroelectricity in HfO2-based ferroelectric thin film by light ion bombardment”, Science 376(6594), 731-738 (2022)

     ￮ URL: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk3195

     Webpage: http://spm.skku.edu