Impacts of Zr content of HfZrOx-Based FeFET memory on resilience towards proton radiation

Abstract

High energy/fluence (10 MeV/2.5 × 1014 ions·cm−2) proton radiation effects on the performance of HfZrOx (HZO)-based ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFETs) memory with various Zr content were studied for the first time. As the Zr content reaches 67 % (tetragonal-phase rich), degraded de-trapping, switching speed, memory window (MW) and polarization-voltage slope occur due to more oxygen vacancies (Vo) generation upon proton radiation resulting from intrinsically higher amount Vo. For FeFETs (Zr: 50 %), irradiated devices exhibit a MW of ∼ 2.4 V while other characteristics show almost independent of radiation. The irradiated FeFETs also reveal good endurance up to 109 cycles by recovery and 10-year retention. The higher resilience towards radiation for FeFETs (Zr: 50 %) is obtained since Vo redistribution is dominant with negligible Vo generation, making it eligible for space missions.