Ferroelectric C-Axis Oriented Pb5Ge3O11 Thin Films for One Transistor Memory Application

Abstract

AbstractOne transistor memory devices have been proposed recently. To meet the needs of one transistor memory applications, C-axis oriented Pb5Ge3O11 (PGO) thin films were prepared using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and rapid thermal processing (RTP). It was found that the nucleation of C-axis Pb5Ge3O11 phase started at a deposition temperature below 400°C and grain growth dominated at 500°C or above. With increasing annealing temperature, the remanent polarization (Pr) and coercive field (Ec) values increased, and the hysteresis loops of the Pb5Ge3O11 films were well saturated and symmetrical after the post-annealing. The C-axis PGO thin film showed good ferroelectric properties at 5V: 2Pr and 2Ec values were 2.0 - 4.0 µC/cm2 and 90 - 110 kV/cm, respectively. The films also showed excellent fatigue characteristics: no fatigue was observed up to 1 × 109 switching cycles. The retention and imprint properties have also been studied. The leakage currents of the PGO films were 2 - 5 × 10−7 A/cm2 at 100 kV/cm and dielectric constants were 40 - 70. The high quality MOCVD Pb5Ge3O11 films can be used for single transistor ferroelectric memory devices.