2025/07/16 by Tony Chiang, Chiang, Tony, John J. Plombon +19
Engineering · Materials Science · #Anodic Oxide Films and Nanostructures #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.12353
openalex publication_date 2025/07/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The ferroelectric switching speed has been experimentally obfuscated by the interaction between the measurement circuit and the ferroelectric switching itself. This has prohibited the observation of real material responses at nanosecond timescales and lower. Here, fundamental polarization switching speeds in ferroelectric materials with the perovskite, fluorite, and wurtzite structures are reported. Upon lateral scaling of island capacitors from micron to nanoscales, a clear transition from circuit-limited switching to a material-limited switching regime is observed. In La0.15Bi0.85FeO3 capacitors, switching is as fast as ~150 ps, the fastest switching time reported. For polycrystalline Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 capacitors, a fundamental switching limit of ~210 ps is observed. Switching times for Al0.92B0.08N are near 20 ns, limited by the coercive and breakdown electric fields. The activation field, instantaneous pseudo-resistivity, and energy-delay are reported in this material-limited regime. Lastly, a criterion for reaching the material-limited regime is provided. This regime enables observation of intrinsic material properties and favorable scaling trends for high-performance computing.