"Approaches to Improving the Performance of Ferroelectric Thin Film" 

Heng-Ray Chuang, MSE PhD Candidate 

Advisor: Professor Raisul Islam

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ABSTRACT

Hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO) is a ferroelectric material that has been widely applied in devices due to its outstanding properties, such as non-volatility, CMOS-compatible process, and low operating voltage. Through appropriate annealing conditions, HZO films can transform from a monoclinic phase to an orthorhombic structure, which is non-centrosymmetric and enables the film to exhibit ferroelectric properties. Efforts have been made to improve the crystallinity and ferroelectric properties by inserting seed layers within the device, doping the HZO film, and optimizing the fabrication process. These approaches can improve the HZO capacitor’s performance by increasing the polarization, enhancing the endurance, and reducing the leakage current.