Ion Radiation Effects on the Stability of Hafnium Oxide-Based Ferroelectric Thin Films: Mechanisms and Regulation

With the advancement of information technology, ferroelectric memories have garnered significant attention due to their non-volatility, high theoretical storage density, low power consumption, and excellent radiation resistance. Hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric materials have a high dielectric constant, a relatively wide bandgap, and good compatibility with CMOS processes, making them suitable for developing the next generation of ferroelectric memories. However, the stability issues hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric thin films face during service, including the wake-up effect and poor polarization retention, hinder the commercialization process of hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric memories developed from these thin films. This paper explores the possibility of optimizing the stability issues of HfO2-based ferroelectric thin films through ion irradiation based on a phase-field model of hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric thin films. The research results show that ion irradiation can effectively weaken the wake-up effect and improve the retention of the thin films. After irradiation with H, He, Fe, and Ar ions, the increase in remanent polarization values of HfO2-based ferroelectric thin films after wake-up was significantly reduced compared to the increase observed in non-irradiated films. Among them, the thin films irradiated with Ar ions showed the smallest increase in remanent polarization after wake-up, at only 9%, while the non-irradiated films exhibited a much higher increase of 260%. Additionally, the ten-year polarization retention efficiencies of the films post-irradiation were also excellent, reaching 95.2%, 93.3%, 92.7%, and 94.5% for H, He, Fe, and Ar ions, respectively. Since Ar ions most effectively reduce the wake-up effect and enhance polarization retention, this study recommends using Ar ions to optimize the stability of hafnium oxide-based ferroelectric thin films. This study provides new insights into optimizing HfO2-based ferroelectric thin films and explores their potential applications in ferroelectric memories.