Ferroelectric La-Sr-Co-O / Pb-Zr-TI-O / La-Sr-Co-O Heterostructures on Silicon: Reliability Testing

We report results of pulsed electrical testing of ferroelectric Pb0.9La0.1Zr0.2Ti0.8O3 thin film capacitors with symmetrical La-Sr-Co-O top and bottom electrodes at room temperature and at 100°C. They have been grown on [001] Si with a Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) buffer layer. A layered perovskite “template” layer (200-300Å thick), grown between the YSZ buffer layer and the bottom La-Sr-Co-O electrode, is critical for obtaining the required orientation of the subsequent layers. When compared to the capacitors grown with Y-Ba-Cu-O (YBCO) top and bottom electrodes, these structures possess two advantages : (1) the growth temperatures are lower by 60-150°C; (ii) the capacitors show a large remnant polarization, δP, ( δP = switched polarization -non-switched polarization), 25-30 μC/cm2, for an applied voltage of only 2V (applied field of 70kV/cm). The fatigue, retention and aging characteristics of these new structures are excellent at both room temperature and at 100°C.