Extended-pulse excimer laser annealing of Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 thin film on LaNiO3 electrode

Comparing to conventional short-pulse (<30ns) excimer laser annealing, the extended pulse (374ns) can provide sufficient thermal energy and time into the Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 (PZT) thin film to complete the crystallization, whereas the bulk of the material remains at low temperature. In this study, thermal simulation is presented to illustrate the temperature distribution in the specimen and the benefits of the extended pulse. With extended-pulse laser annealing, we observe a 50% improvement in remanent polarization because of the elimination of the amorphous layer on the PZT surface, which is also confirmed by cross-section transmission electron microscopy analysis. This low temperature process is suitable for embedded capacitor-over-interconnect ferroelectric random access memory for advanced system-on-chip applications.