Effects of Al doping concentration and top electrode on the ferroelectricity of Al-doped HfO2 thin films

Al-doped HfO2 (HAO) is regarded as one of the potential HfO2 ferroelectric materials owing to its compatibility with the front end of the line process in integration circuits. In this work, atomic layer deposited (ALD) HAO thin films with different Al-doping concentrations and the corresponding devices with Ti or W top electrodes have been explored. It is found that the HAO film properties and corresponding ferroelectric device performances depend greatly on the doping concentration. In the concentration range of 3.0%–5.0%, 4.5% is the most proper doping concentration to induce the ferroelectricity of the thin film. It is revealed by x-ray diffraction and photoelectron spectroscopy that the oxygen vacancies can be modulated by doping, thereby contributing to the formation of the ferroelectric orthorhombic phase. A high remnant polarization (2Pr) of 36.8 ± 0.7 μC/cm2 under 5 mV/cm sweeping is observed through electrical measurement in the device with a 4.5% HAO and W top electrode. In addition, it was found that the choice of W or Ti top electrodes would affect the leakage and breakdown characteristics of the device. This work reveals the mechanism of Al doping and electrode modulation of HfO2 device performance and promotes the development of HAO ferroelectric thin film devices.