Huang T.-SYeh P.-CYang H.-YLin Y.-DTzeng P.-JSheu S.-SLo W.-CCHIH-I WUHou T.-H.2023-06-092023-06-092022https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85130478872&doi=10.1109%2fVLSI-TSA54299.2022.9771032&partnerID=40&md5=116eab2afc36dc0629ea05e385af9023https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/632152Improving the area scalability and reducing the process temperature of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) ferroelectric (FE) capacitors are two of the most critical challenges in future back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible FE memories. This paper presents the first study demonstrating the existence of a tradeoff between the area scalability and the annealing temperature, suggesting that these two should be optimized simultaneously rather than separately. Optimizing the HZO thickness and Hf:Zr ratio are identified to improve the tradeoff. High remanent polarization density of 24 µC/cm2 and excellent endurance of 9×109 cycles are achieved in a scaled FE area as small as 0.6×0.6 µm2 by using the BEOL-compatible 400°C annealing. © 2022 IEEE.Annealing; Ferroelectricity; Hafnium oxides; Temperature; Zirconium compounds; Annealing temperatures; Back end of lines; Critical challenges; Ferroelectric capacitors; Ferroelectric memory; Lows-temperatures; Polarization density; Process temperature; Zirconia oxide; Scalabilityconference paper10.1109/VLSI-TSA54299.2022.97710322-s2.0-85130478872