@article{Luo2025, 
author = {Jie Luo and Junhui Wang and Xinran Huang and Xinpeng Mu and Tianpeng Duan and Limei Jiang and Yichun Zhou and Qiong Yang and Jiajia Liao and Jie Jiang},
title = {Thickness dependence of ferroelectricity in HfO2-based thin film due to the grain size effect},
year = {2025},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {18},
number = {11},
pages = {94907687},
keywords = {ferroelectric properties, thickness, grain size effect, Ce:HfO2 thin films},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/NR.2025.94907687},
doi = {10.26599/NR.2025.94907687},
abstract = {Compared to traditional perovskite ferroelectric materials, HfO2 has emerged as a prominent research focus due to its ability to retain significant ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. However, systematic studies on its performance in thicker films remain limited, leaving the intrinsic relationship between thickness variation and ferroelectric properties poorly understood. In this work, we successfully fabricated doped HfO2-based ferroelectric thin films with thicknesses spanning tens to hundreds of nanometers. All these films exhibit robust ferroelectric characteristics, and their ferroelectric properties demonstrate a non-monotonic evolution with increasing thickness. Macroscopic electrical measurements and mesoscale domain switching analysis confirmed that the ferroelectric properties of Ce:HfO2 films first diminish and then recover with the increase of film thickness. By further characterizing the evolution of microscopic structures, we elucidate the thickness effects on the grain size distribution and domain structure evolution. This framework clarifies the physical mechanism underlying the thickness-dependent ferroelectric behavior. Our findings provide critical experimental evidence for developing large-scale HfO2-based ferroelectric devices and lay a theoretical foundation for optimizing thick-film ferroelectric materials for practical applications.}
}