Stabilization of Morphotropic Phase Boundary in Hafnia Via Microwave Low‐temperature Crystallization Process for Next‐generation DRAM Technology

The morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), which arises from the combination of antiferroelectric and ferroelectric phases, demonstrates the highest dielectric constant (κ) compared to other phases. This emphasizes its potential as a leading contender for dielectric films in future DRAM capacitors. MPB‐based high‐κ materials using hafnia have shown a trade‐off between equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) and leakage current density (Jleak) when the crystallization temperature increases with scaling the thickness. In this study, we employed a microwave annealing (MWA) method that can achieve low‐temperature crystallization below 350 °C. The purpose of this method is to mitigate the trade‐off relationships and achieve the strict criteria of current DRAM capacitors. These criteria include low EOT (less than 4 Å) and Jleak (less than 10‐7 A/cm2 at 0.8 V) characteristics. The MWA is capable of relatively low‐temperature annealing by supplying energy to the films through both thermal energy and dipole vibration energy. As a result, we achieved a record low EOT of 3.76 Å and a low leakage current characteristic of 4.2×10‐8 A/cm2 at 0.8 V concurrently. We are confident that our research can be important in addressing the challenges associated with reducing the size of next‐generation DRAM capacitors.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.