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This study investigates the structural and ferroelectric properties of ZrO 2 thin films (∼10 nm, 20 nm, and 40 nm) deposited via Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). Structural analysis reveals the presence of tetragonal/orthorhombic phases and significant out-of-plane compressive strain at lower thicknesses. Increasing film thickness enhances crystallinity and causes XRD peak shifts towards standard positions, indicating reduced strain. Ferroelectric measurements show that remnant polarisation ( P r ) and coercive field ( V c ) decrease, while saturation polarisation ( P s ) increases with thickness. This behavior is attributed to strain relaxation and the emergence of the monoclinic phase in films thicker than 20 nm. The 20 nm ZrO 2 film demonstrates an optimal balance of ferroelectric phase fraction and memory window performance, making it superior to the 10 nm and 40 nm films.
Roy et al. (Sun,) studied this question.