Robust Breakdown Reliability and Improved Endurance in Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Ferroelectric Using Grain Boundary Interruption

In this brief, we reported the improved break- down reliability and endurance in 10-nm Hf
_0.5
Zr
_0.5
O
₂
(HZO) using grain boundary interruption. By inserting an amorphous Al
₂
O
₃
layer in the middle of polycrystalline HZO, grain boundaries penetrating between the electrodes were interrupted. Compared with single-layer HZO [metal-ferroelectric-metal (MFM)] and HZO/Al
₂
O
₃
[metal-ferroelectric-insulator-metal (MFIM)], the ferroelectric/insulator/ferroelectric [metal-ferroelectric-insulator-ferroelectric-metal (MFIFM)] structure exhibited
$9\times $
reduction of leakage current, 0.85-V increase of breakdown (BD) voltage (
${T}_{\text {BD}}$
), and 0.97-V increase of voltage for 10-year time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) lifetime. Furthermore, >10
¹⁰
endurance was achieved in MFIFM capacitor, which has more than three orders of magnitude improvement than MFM and MFIM capacitor. This work provides an effective way to enhance the reliability of HZO-based ferroelectric devices.