Impact of Al-Doping on Ferroelectricity and Reliability of HfZrO Film Under High Temperature Annealing

This study explores the influences of Al-doping on a ferroelectricity and a reliability of Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ (HZO) films with a high temperature annealing. The Al-doped HZO (Al:HZO) films, in which the Al₂O₃ (AlO) layers are uniformly doped into the HZO films, are fabricated by using the super-cycles of atomic layer deposition (ALD). All the Al:HZO films show the reduced leakage current, increased breakdown field, 10-year lifetime voltage (> 2.32 V), endurance (> 10¹⁰ cycles) without observable fatigue and wake-up effect. Among the Al:HZO films, the 72:1 cycle ratio (CR) exhibits the highest remanent polarization (P_r) of ~22.7 μC/cm², while the 36:1 CR offered an optimal trade-off between reliability and P_r (~19.1 μC/cm²). These results suggest that the Al:HZO films are promising candidates for the next-generation 3D ferroelectric memory applications requiring high thermal budget compatibility and robust reliability.