BEOL-Compatible Ferroelectric Capacitor of 5 nm Ultrathin HZO With High Remanent Polarization and Excellent Endurance

Abstract

In this letter, we have successfully fabricated a metal-ferroelectricity-metal (MFM) capacitor of an ultrathin 5 nm HZO utilizing Molybdenum (Mo) as the electrodes. By proposing a novel atomic layer deposition (ALD) scheme, we overcome the challenge of oxidation of the lower Mo electrode; a 2 nm HZO deposited by thermally enhanced ALD followed by a 3 nm HZO deposited by plasma enhanced ALD. The fabricated sample demonstrated a 2Pr value of 38.5 μC/cm ² at an operating voltage of 2 V. Furthermore, in endurance testing, the sample maintained a 2Pr value of 36.9 μC/cm ² even after 10 ¹⁰ cycles (△2Pr/2Pr _pristine ≈ 7% from pristine to 10 ¹⁰ cycles). With a maximum process temperature of 400 °C, our approach thereby meets the stringent requirement of Back-End-of-Line (BEOL) integration.