2025/01/03 by F. Messi, Jyotish Patidar, Messi, Federica +9 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Acoustic Wave Resonator Technologies #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Metal and Thin Film Mechanics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2501.02101
openalex publication_date 2025/01/03 · openalex created_date 2025/01/08 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The demand for efficient data processing motivates a shift toward in-memory computing architectures. Ferroelectric materials, particularly AlScN, show great promise for next-generation memory devices. However, their widespread application is limited due challenges such as high coercive fields, leakage currents and limited stability. Our work introduces a novel synthesis approach for ferroelectric AlScN thin films using high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS). Through a combinatorial study, we investigate the effect of scandium content and substrate bias on the ferroelectric properties of AlScN films deposited using metal-ion synchronized (MIS) HiPIMS. Leveraging the high ionization rates of HiPIMS and optimally timed substrate bias potentials, we enhance the adatom mobility at low temperatures. Our films exhibit a high degree of texture and crystallinity as well as low roughness at temperatures as low as 250°C. Most importantly, the films exhibit coercive fields comparable to state-of-the-art values (5 MV/cm) with significantly enhanced remanent polarization (158-172.0 μC/cm2). Notably, the remanent polarization remains stable across varying scandium concentrations. We further evaluate cycling stability and leakage current to assess suitability for memory applications. This study demonstrates HiPIMS as a scalable and CMOS compatible technique for synthesizing high-quality ferroelectric AlScN films, paving the way for their application in non-volatile memory applications.