AI Chat Paper
Note: Please note that the following content is generated by AMiner AI. SciOpen does not take any responsibility related to this content.
{{lang === 'zh_CN' ? '文章概述' : 'Summary'}}
{{lang === 'en_US' ? '中' : 'Eng'}}
Chat more with AI
PDF (656.8 KB)
Collect
Submit Manuscript AI Chat Paper
Show Outline
Outline
Show full outline
Hide outline
Outline
Show full outline
Hide outline
Research Article | Open Access

Thickness dependence of the crystallization and phase transition in ZrO2 thin films

Yue GuanaJing ZhouaHaodong ZhongbWeipeng WangbZhengjun ZhangbFeng LuoaShuai Ninga( )
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Show Author Information

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Fluorite-structure binary oxides (e.g., HfO2 and ZrO2) have attracted increasing interest for a broad range of applications including thermal barrier coatings, high-k dielectrics, and novel ferroelectrics. A crystalline structure plays a crucial role in determining physical and chemical properties. Structure evolution of ZrO2 thin films, particularly down to the nanometer scale, has not been thoroughly studied. In this work, we carried out systematic annealing analysis on the ZrO2 thin films. Through in-situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) characterizations, a thickness dependence of crystallization and phase transition is observed. Irrespective of the thickness (10–300 nm), the as-prepared amorphous ZrO2 thin films are preferentially crystallized into a tetragonal (t) structure (high-temperature phase), which can be preserved down to room temperature (RT) upon annealing at the corresponding crystallization temperature (TC). When annealing at temperatures higher than TC, the transition from t to monoclinic (m; RT phase) will occur, and the quantity of the transition strongly depends on the film thickness. Our work expands the basic understanding of the phase transition in the ZrO2 thin films, and offers a path to the selective control over the phase structure for novel functionalities.

References

[1]
Wei ZY, Meng GH, Chen L, et al. Progress in ceramic materials and structure design toward advanced thermal barrier coatings. J Adv Ceram 2022, 11: 9851068.
[2]
Shekhar P, Shamim S, Hartinger S, et al. Low-temperature atomic layer deposition of hafnium oxide for gating applications. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2022, 14: 3396033967.
[3]
Coey JMD, Venkatesan M, Stamenov P, et al. Magnetism in hafnium dioxide. Phys Rev B 2005, 72: 024450.
[4]
Ning S, Zhan P, Xie Q, et al. Room-temperature ferromagnetism in un-doped ZrO2 thin films. J Phys D Appl Phys 2013, 46: 445004.
[5]
Böscke TS, Müller J, Bräuhaus D, et al. Ferroelectricity in hafnium oxide thin films. Appl Phys Lett 2011, 99: 102903.
[6]
Müller J, Böscke TS, Schröder U, et al. Ferroelectricity in simple binary ZrO2 and HfO2. Nano Lett 2012, 12: 43184323.
[7]
Ali T, Polakowski P, Riedel S, et al. Silicon doped hafnium oxide (HSO) and hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO) based FeFET: A material relation to device physics. Appl Phys Lett 2018, 112: 222903.
[8]
Park MH, Lee YH, Mikolajick T, et al. Review and perspective on ferroelectric HfO2-based thin films for memory applications. MRS Commun 2018, 8: 795808.
[9]
Chernikova A, Kozodaev M, Markeev A, et al. Ultrathin Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 ferroelectric films on Si. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2016, 8: 72327237.
[10]
Lee YH, Kim HJ, Moon T, et al. Preparation and characterization of ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 thin films grown by reactive sputtering. Nanotechnology 2017, 28: 305703.
[11]
Yan Y, Zhou DY, Guo CX, et al. Thickness-dependent phase evolution and dielectric property of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 thin films prepared with aqueous precursor. J Sol-Gel Sci Techn 2016, 77: 430436.
[12]
Huan TD, Sharma V, Rossetti GA, et al. Pathways towards ferroelectricity in hafnia. Phys Rev B 2014, 90: 064111.
[13]
Chevalier J, Gremillard L, Virkar AV, et al. The tetragonal–monoclinic transformation in zirconia: Lessons learned and future trends. J Am Ceram Soc 2009, 92: 19011920.
[14]
Sang XH, Grimley ED, Schenk T, et al. On the structural origins of ferroelectricity in HfO2 thin films. Appl Phys Lett 2015, 106: 162905.
[15]
Materlik R, Künneth C, Kersch A. The origin of ferroelectricity in Hf1−xZrxO2: A computational investigation and a surface energy model. J Appl Phys 2015, 117: 134109.
[16]
Batra R, Huan TD, Jones JL, et al. Factors favoring ferroelectricity in hafnia: A first-principles computational study. J Phys Chem C 2017, 121: 41394145.
[17]
Batra R, Tran HD, Ramprasad R. Stabilization of metastable phases in hafnia owing to surface energy effects. Appl Phys Lett 2016, 108: 172902.
[18]
Kim SJ, Narayan D, Lee JG, et al. Large ferroelectric polarization of TiN/Hf0.5Zr0.5O2/TiN capacitors due to stress-induced crystallization at low thermal budget. Appl Phys Lett 2017, 111: 242901.
[19]
Lee YS, Goh Y, Hwang J, et al. The influence of top and bottom metal electrodes on ferroelectricity of hafnia. IEEE T Electron Dev 2021, 68: 523528.
[20]
Fan P, Zhang YK, Yang Q, et al. Origin of the intrinsic ferroelectricity of HfO2 from ab initio molecular dynamics. J Phys Chem C 2019, 123: 2174321750.
[21]
Liu S, Hanrahan BM. Effects of growth orientations and epitaxial strains on phase stability of HfO2 thin films. Phys Rev Materials 2019, 3: 054404.
[22]
Ning S, Zhan P, Xie Q, et al. Defects-driven ferromagnetism in undoped dilute magnetic oxides: A review. J Mater Sci Technol 2015, 31: 969978.
[23]
Silva JPB, Negrea RF, Istrate MC, et al. Wake-up free ferroelectric rhombohedral phase in epitaxially strained ZrO2 thin films. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2021, 13: 5138351392.
[24]
Xu BH, Lomenzo PD, Kersch A, et al. Influence of Si-doping on 45 nm thick ferroelectric ZrO2 films. ACS Appl Electron Mater 2022, 4: 36483654.
[25]
Azevedo Antunes L, Ganser R, Kuenneth C, et al. Characteristics of low-energy phases of hafnia and zirconia from density functional theory calculations. Phys Status Solidi-R 2022, 16: 2100636.
[26]
Park MH, Lee YH, Kim HJ, et al. Surface and grain boundary energy as the key enabler of ferroelectricity in nanoscale hafnia-zirconia: A comparison of model and experiment. Nanoscale 2017, 9: 99739986.
[27]
Mimura T, Shimizu T, Sakata O, et al. Thickness dependence of phase stability in epitaxial (HfxZr1−x)O2 films. Phys Rev Materials 2021, 5: 114407.
[28]
Böscke TS, Teichert S, Bräuhaus D, et al. Phase transitions in ferroelectric silicon doped hafnium oxide. Appl Phys Lett 2011, 99: 112904.
[29]
Joh H, Anoop G, Lee WJ, et al. Low-temperature growth of ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 thin films assisted by deep ultraviolet light irradiation. ACS Appl Electron Mater 2021, 3: 12441251.
[30]
Hsain HA, Lee Y, Parsons G, et al. Compositional dependence of crystallization temperatures and phase evolution in hafnia–zirconia (HfxZr1−x)O2 thin films. Appl Phys Lett 2020, 116: 192901.
[31]
Hoffmann M, Schroeder U, Schenk T, et al. Stabilizing the ferroelectric phase in doped hafnium oxide. J Appl Phys 2015, 118: 072006.
[32]
Arunkumar P, Aarthi U, Sribalaji M, et al. Deposition rate dependent phase/mechanical property evolution in zirconia and ceria–zirconia thin film by EB-PVD technique. J Alloys Compd 2018, 765: 418427.
[33]
Ali N, Teixeira JA, Addali A. Effect of water temperature, pH value, and film thickness on the wettability behaviour of copper surfaces coated with copper using EB-PVD technique. J Nano Res 2019, 60: 124141.
[34]
Aadhavan R, Bera P, Anandan C, et al. Phase evolution of EBPVD coated ceria–zirconia nanostructure and its impact on high temperature oxidation of AISI 304. Corros Sci 2017, 129: 115125.
[35]
Kumar A, Kumar P, Dhaliwal AS. Thermally induced phase transformation and structural modifications of E-beam evaporated zirconia thin films. Phase Transit 2022, 95: 596608
[36]
Palai R, Katiyar RS, Schmid H, et al. β-phase and γ−β metal–insulator transition in multiferroic BiFeO3. Phys Rev B 2008, 77: 014110.
[37]
Ganbavle VV, Kim JH, Rajpure KY. Effect of substrate temperature on the properties of sprayed WO3 thin films using peroxotungstic acid and ammonium tungstate: A comparative study. J Electron Mater 2015, 44: 874885.
[38]
Kumar A, Singh SK, Kumar P, et al. Structural, morphological, and phase transformation studies of 1.4 MeV Kr ion beam irradiated zirconia thin films. J Mater Res 2022, 37: 35473558.
[39]
Azevedo Antunes L, Ganser R, Alcala R, et al. An unexplored antipolar phase in HfO2 from first principles and implication for wake-up mechanism. Appl Phys Lett 2021, 119: 082903.
[40]
Aita CR, Wiggins MD, Whig R, et al. Thermodynamics of tetragonal zirconia formation in a nanolaminate film. J Appl Phys 1996, 79: 11761178.
[41]
Tang J, Fabbri J, Robinson RD, et al. Solid-solution nanoparticles: Use of a nonhydrolytic sol–gel synthesis to prepare HfO2 and HfxZr1−xO2 nanocrystals. Chem Mater 2004, 16: 13361342.
[42]
Qi JJ, Zhou XP. Formation of tetragonal and monoclinic-HfO2 nanoparticles in the oil/water interface. Colloid Surf A 2015, 487: 2634.
[43]
Tang J, Zhang F, Zoogman P, et al. Martensitic phase transformation of isolated HfO2, ZrO2, and HfxZr1−xO2 (0 < x < 1) nanocrystals. Adv Funct Mater 2005, 15: 15951602.
[44]
Garvie RC, Nicholson PS. Phase analysis in zirconia systems. J Am Ceram Soc 1972, 55: 303305.
[45]
Kumar A, Kumar P, Dhaliwal AS. Structural, morphological properties and phase stabilisation criteria of the calcia–zirconia system. Adv Appl Ceram 2021, 120: 307318.
[46]
Wang K, Li JF. (K,Na)NbO3-based lead-free piezoceramics: Phase transition, sintering and property enhancement. J Adv Ceram 2012, 1: 2437.
[47]
Sayan S, Nguyen NV, Ehrstein J, et al. Structural, electronic, and dielectric properties of ultrathin zirconia films on silicon. Appl Phys Lett 2005, 86: 152902.
[48]
Ugheoke BI, Mamat O, Ari-Wahjoedi B. Thermal expansion behavior, phase transitions and some physico-mechanical characteristics of fired doped rice husk silica refractory. J Adv Ceram 2013, 2: 7986.
[49]
Stichert W, Schüth F. Influence of crystallite size on the properties of zirconia. Chem Mater 1998, 10: 20202026.
[50]
Nitsche R, Rodewald M, Skandan G, et al. Hrtem study of nanocrystalline zirconia powders. Nanostruct Mater 1996, 7: 535546.
Journal of Advanced Ceramics
Pages 822-829
Cite this article:
Guan Y, Zhou J, Zhong H, et al. Thickness dependence of the crystallization and phase transition in ZrO2 thin films. Journal of Advanced Ceramics, 2023, 12(4): 822-829. https://doi.org/10.26599/JAC.2023.9220723

2895

Views

596

Downloads

5

Crossref

11

Web of Science

12

Scopus

0

CSCD

Altmetrics

Received: 02 November 2022
Revised: 16 January 2023
Accepted: 19 January 2023
Published: 09 March 2023
© The Author(s) 2023.

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Return