Materials (Jan 2024)

Demonstration of 10 nm Ferroelectric Al<sub>0.7</sub>Sc<sub>0.3</sub>N-Based Capacitors for Enabling Selector-Free Memory Array

  • Li Chen,
  • Chen Liu,
  • Hock Koon Lee,
  • Binni Varghese,
  • Ronald Wing Fai Ip,
  • Minghua Li,
  • Zhan Jiang Quek,
  • Yan Hong,
  • Weijie Wang,
  • Wendong Song,
  • Huamao Lin,
  • Yao Zhu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17030627
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 3
p. 627

Abstract

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In this work, 10 nm scandium-doped aluminum nitride (AlScN) capacitors are demonstrated for the construction of the selector-free memory array application. The 10 nm Al0.7Sc0.3N film deposited on an 8-inch silicon wafer with sputtering technology exhibits a large remnant polarization exceeding 100 µC/cm2 and a tight distribution of the coercive field, which is characterized by the positive-up-negative-down (PUND) method. As a result, the devices with lateral dimension of only 1.5 μm show a large memory window of over 250% and a low power consumption of ~40 pJ while maintaining a low disturbance rate of <2%. Additionally, the devices demonstrate stable multistate memory characteristics with a dedicated operation scheme. The back-end-of-line (BEOL)-compatible fabrication process, along with all these device performances, shows the potential of AlScN-based capacitors for the implementation of the high-density selector-free memory array.

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