Dynamical aspects of retention and its relation to fatigue in ferroelectric thin films

Abstract

Short-time retention loss behaviors were investigated for fatigued Pt/PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3/Pt capacitors. In the short-time regime of t<1 s, fatigued capacitors showed a significant loss in retained polarization. The short-time retention loss behavior was well described by a power-law function and the retention characteristic got worse as the fatigue stress increased. The retention loss was analyzed in a viewpoint of polarization dynamics, superpositions of Debye-type polarization relaxations. Distribution of the relaxation time was affected by the degree of fatigue stress and write/read pulse-field strength. The results were explained in terms of the depolarization field.