Epitaxial Orientation-Controlled High Crystallinity and Ferroelectric Properties in Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Films

Abstract

Hafnium-based binary oxides are essential for fabricating nanoscale high-density ferroelectric memory devices. However, effective strategies to control and improve their thin-film single crystallinity and metastable ferroelectricity remain elusive, hindering potential applications. Here, using NdGaO₃ (NGO) substrates with four crystalline orientations, we report a systematic study of the structural characterizations and ferroelectric properties of epitaxial Hf_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ (HZO) films, demonstrating orientation-controlled high crystallinity and enhanced ferroelectric properties. HZO films grown on NGO(001) and NGO(110) substrates exhibit relatively low crystallinity and a significant presence of the monoclinic phase. In contrast, HZO films grown on NGO(100) and NGO(010) possess high single crystallinity and a dominant ferroelectric phase. These differences are attributed to the surface symmetry of the NGO substrate, which favors the formation of 4- or 2-fold domain configurations. Moreover, the optimized HZO films exhibit a large polarization (2P_r) of ∼50 μC/cm², enhanced fatigue behavior up to 10¹¹ cycles, improved retention of 2P_r ∼ 40 μC/cm² after 10 years, and characteristic polarization switching speeds in the submicrosecond range. Our results highlight the importance of modulating the single crystallinity and ferroelectric phase fraction of HfO₂-based films to enhance ferroelectric properties, further revealing the potential of epitaxial symmetry engineering.

Keywords: epitaxial Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films; fatigue; ferroelectricity; polarization switching; retention; single crystallinity; symmetry engineering.