Scaling effects on ferro-electrics: Application in nanoelectronics and characterization

Abstract

Ferroelectric thin films have been attractive for multifunctional devices like nonvolatile memory (FeRAM) using hysteresis behavior, DRAM using high permittivity, micro-actuator using piezoelectricity, infrared sensor using pyroelectricity, optical switch shutter display, etc. Thin-film nanoscale device structures integrated onto Si chips have made inroads into the semiconductor industry. These applications need not only ferroelectric high quality materials but also ability to keep the ferroelectricity at low dimension after fabrication of nano-scale objects. For these reasons, advanced characterization techniques for probing the properties of ferroelectric materials at nano-scale dimensions are now required. Among them, techniques based on the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) have proved their efficiency for mapping the ferroelectric behavior of thin films with a nanometric resolution. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.