Zheng Ningchong, Li Jiayi, Sun Haoying, Zang Yipeng, Jiao Peijie, Shen Cong, Jiang Xingyu, Xia Yidong, Deng Yu, Wu Di, Pan Xiaoqing, Nie Yuefeng
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Science and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Sci Adv. 2025 Apr 11;11(15):eads0724. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ads0724.
Oxide-based ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) show promise for nonvolatile memory and neuromorphic applications, making their integration with existing semiconductor technologies highly desirable. Furthermore, resistance fatigue in current silicon-based integration remains a critical issue. Understanding this fatigue mechanism in semiconductor-integrated FTJ is essential yet unresolved. Here, we systematically investigate the fatigue performance of ultrathin bismuth ferrite BiFeO (BFO)-based FTJs integrated with various semiconductors. Notably, the BFO/gallium arsenide FTJ exhibits superior fatigue resistance characteristics (>10 cycles), surpassing the BFO/silicon FTJ (>10 cycles) and even approaching epitaxial oxide FTJs (>10 cycles). The atomic-scale fatigue mechanism is revealed as lattice structure collapse caused by oxygen vacancy accumulation in BFO near semiconductors after repeated switching. The enhanced fatigue-resistant behavior in BFO/gallium arsenide FTJ is due to gallium arsenide's weak oxygen affinity, resulting in fewer oxygen vacancies. These findings provide deeper insights into the atomic-scale fatigue mechanism of semiconductor-integrated FTJs and pave the way for fabricating fatigue-resistant oxide FTJs for practical applications.
基于氧化物的铁电隧道结(FTJs)在非易失性存储器和神经形态应用方面展现出前景,这使得它们与现有半导体技术的集成变得非常必要。此外,当前基于硅的集成中的电阻疲劳仍然是一个关键问题。了解半导体集成FTJ中的这种疲劳机制至关重要但尚未得到解决。在此,我们系统地研究了与各种半导体集成的超薄铋铁氧体BiFeO(BFO)基FTJs的疲劳性能。值得注意的是,BFO/砷化镓FTJ表现出优异的抗疲劳特性(>10次循环),超过了BFO/硅FTJ(>10次循环),甚至接近外延氧化物FTJs(>10次循环)。原子尺度的疲劳机制被揭示为在重复切换后,半导体附近的BFO中氧空位积累导致晶格结构坍塌。BFO/砷化镓FTJ中增强的抗疲劳行为归因于砷化镓较弱的氧亲和力,导致氧空位较少。这些发现为深入了解半导体集成FTJs的原子尺度疲劳机制提供了见解,并为制造用于实际应用的抗疲劳氧化物FTJs铺平了道路。