Ultrafast measurements of polarization switching dynamics on ferroelectric and anti-ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide

• Published in: Applied physics letters Vol. 115; no. 7
• Main Authors: Si, Mengwei, Lyu, Xiao, Shrestha, Pragya R., Sun, Xing, Wang, Haiyan, Cheung, Kin P., Ye, Peide D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Institute of Physics 12-08-2019
• Subjects: Antiferroelectricity; Applied physics; Ferroelectric materials; Hafnium; Nucleation; Polarization; Switching; Transient current; Zirconium oxides
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.5098786

The ultrafast measurements of polarization switching dynamics on ferroelectric (FE) and antiferroelectric (AFE) hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO) are studied. The transient current during the polarization switching process is probed directly on the nanosecond scale. The switching time is determined to be as fast as 10 ns to reach fully switched polarization with characteristic switching times of 5.4 ns for FE HZO and 4.5 ns for AFE HZO by the nucleation limited switching model. The limitation by the parasitic effect on capacitor charging is found to be critical in the correct and accurate measurements of intrinsic polarization switching speed of HZO.