Scaling of the ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties in Pt/SrBi2Ta2O9/Pt thin films was studied. Focused ion beam milling was used to fabricate submicron devices (1×1, 0.5×0.5, 0.25×0.25, 0.09×0.09, and 0.07×0.07 μm2) and scanning force microscopy was used to examine their piezoelectric response. It was found that capacitors as small as 0.09×0.09 μm2 exhibit good piezoelectric/ferroelectric properties and that submicron (0.25×0.25 μm2) capacitors show resistance to bipolar fatigue with up to at least 109 cycles. The results were compared with similar capacitor structures milled in the Pb1.0(Nb0.04Zr0.28Ti0.68)O3 system where structures as small as 0.07×0.07 μm2 were analyzed.

We have investigated the effect of reducing the thickness of strontium bismuth tantalate film to as low as 25 nm on its ferroelectric characteristics. A degradation of ferroelectric properties such as significant reduction in remanent polarization is generally observed with reduction in film thickness, in particular below 100 nm. This has been overcome by using a modified deposition process sequence and a crystallization technique based completely on the rapid thermal annealing process. The resulting ultrathin films show good remanent polarization, low-voltage saturation, low leakage current, high breakdown strength, and good endurance. These films demonstrate the potential for scaling and are excellent candidates for several generations of ferroelectric random access memory applications.

A method of making transition metal oxide materials that result in resistive switching properties stable over time and temperature is described. We have developed an ultra low temperature (≤450°C) process for carbonyl ligand modified NiO thin films based on the chemical solution deposition (CSD) for correlated electron random access memory (CeRAM) applications. CeRAMs form the general class of devices that use the electron-electron interaction as the primary mode of operation. These devices are fabricated in the conductive state (born-ON), thus, they do not require electroforming to enter the variable resistance state. Several process parameters such as film stoichiometry, thickness, annealing temperature and ambient have been investigated to optimize CeRAMs properties. We present the coordination number ‘fine tuning’ in NiO ultra thin films via carbonyl ligand doping that regulate the number of oxygen vacancies and the surface excess of metal ions. CeRAMs contrary to just standard NiO based resistive memories use the pure Mott-like charge transfer insulator in which an abrupt metal to insulator transition is the dominant mechanism without the aid of charge trapping vacancies. In our films the effect of the oxygen vacancies are canceled due to the stabilizing effect of the carbonyl based extrinsic ligand. In this paper, detailed process sequence and the extrinsic ligand doping scheme is described in some length. It is shown that complexes formed by the introduction of the extrinsic ligand promote Ni2+ ions to enter the disproportionation reaction Ni2+ + Ni2+→Ni1+ + Ni3+ which is considered to be responsible for the memory mechanism.

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