Characterizing Ferroelectric Response in Hafnium Oxide Thin Films

Hafnium oxide (HfO₂) can already be found in semiconductor devices as a high-k dielectric material. More recent developments have allowed it to be deposited as a ferroelectric thin film, which is a promising material for a new generation of devices that exploit a ferroelectric-silicon junction. However, characterizing its extremely weak piezoelectric response presents a challenge for conventional piezoelectric response microscopy (PFM).

Download this new application note, “Characterizing Ferroelectric Response in Si-Doped Hafnium Oxide Thin Films,” to learn:

• About the special deposition conditions that yield ferroelectric HfO₂ thin films
• How Asylum’s unique Dual AC Resonance Tracking (DART) technology improves the sensitivity of PFM measurements while eliminating a common measurement artifact
• How PFM can characterize the piezoelectric response (amplitude and domain orientation) with nanometer-scale resolution in ferroelectric HfO₂ thin films

(Free download, compliments of Asylum Research, the Technology Leader in Atomic Force Microscopy)