Modeling of field cycling behavior of ferroelectric hafnia-based capacitors

The discovery of ferroelectricity within doped hafnia revived interest in ferroelectric memories and opened the door for the integration of CMOS-compatible ferroelectrics into state-of-the-art semiconductor technology. In contrast to classic perovskite-based ferroelectric memories, hafnia-based equivalents suffer from limited endurance strength and changes of the memory window during the lifetime of the devices. Modeling and simulation are necessary not only to investigate the physical mechanisms occurring during the memory operation, but also to provide design guidelines that would lead to the engineering of the novel device with superior performance. Therefore, in this chapter, modeling approaches increasing the understanding of processes and mechanisms occurring within hafnia-based ferroelectric memories are discussed. Initially, dielectric processes and models describing pure dielectric properties are reviewed. Afterward, the models required for simulating the ferroelectric history dependent behavior are covered. Finally, the physical mechanisms responsible for the wake-up and fatigue of the ferroelectric memories are presented through the comprehensive model of the ferroelectric capacitor.