Exploring leakage in dielectric films via automated experiments in scanning probe microscopy

Yongtao Liu; Shelby S. Fields; Takanori Mimura; Kyle P. Kelley; Susan Trolier-Mckinstry; Jon F. Ihlefeld; Sergei V. Kalinin

doi:10.1063/5.0079217

Exploring leakage in dielectric films via automated experiments in scanning probe microscopy

Yongtao Liu, Shelby S. Fields, Takanori Mimura, Kyle P. Kelley, Susan Trolier-Mckinstry, Jon F. Ihlefeld, Sergei V. Kalinin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electronic conduction pathways in dielectric thin films are explored using automated experiments in scanning probe microscopy (SPM). Here, we use large field of view scanning to identify the position of localized conductive spots and develop an SPM workflow to probe their dynamic behavior at higher spatial resolution as a function of time, voltage, and scanning process in an automated fashion. Using this approach, we observe the variable behaviors of the conductive spots in a 20-nm-thick ferroelectric Hf0.54Zr0.48O2 film, where conductive spots disappear and reappear during continuous scanning. There are also fresh conductive spots that develop during scanning. The automated workflow is universal and can be integrated into a wide range of microscopy techniques, including SPM, electron microscopy, optical microscopy, and chemical imaging.

Original language	English
Article number	182903
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	120
Issue number	18
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0079217
State	Published - May 2 2022

Funding

This work (material synthesis and automated experiment development) was primarily supported by the Center for 3D Ferroelectric Microelectronics (3DFeM), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-SC0021118. The work (algorithm development and data analysis) was also supported by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), a U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility. The authors acknowledge Stephen Jesse and Nina Balke for fruitful discussion. Note that this manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC0500OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for the United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Funders	Funder number
CNMS	DE-AC0500OR22725
center for 3D Ferroelectric Microelectronics
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences	DE-SC0021118

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10.1063/5.0079217

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title = "Exploring leakage in dielectric films via automated experiments in scanning probe microscopy",

abstract = "Electronic conduction pathways in dielectric thin films are explored using automated experiments in scanning probe microscopy (SPM). Here, we use large field of view scanning to identify the position of localized conductive spots and develop an SPM workflow to probe their dynamic behavior at higher spatial resolution as a function of time, voltage, and scanning process in an automated fashion. Using this approach, we observe the variable behaviors of the conductive spots in a 20-nm-thick ferroelectric Hf0.54Zr0.48O2 film, where conductive spots disappear and reappear during continuous scanning. There are also fresh conductive spots that develop during scanning. The automated workflow is universal and can be integrated into a wide range of microscopy techniques, including SPM, electron microscopy, optical microscopy, and chemical imaging.",

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AU - Ihlefeld, Jon F.

AU - Kalinin, Sergei V.

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AB - Electronic conduction pathways in dielectric thin films are explored using automated experiments in scanning probe microscopy (SPM). Here, we use large field of view scanning to identify the position of localized conductive spots and develop an SPM workflow to probe their dynamic behavior at higher spatial resolution as a function of time, voltage, and scanning process in an automated fashion. Using this approach, we observe the variable behaviors of the conductive spots in a 20-nm-thick ferroelectric Hf0.54Zr0.48O2 film, where conductive spots disappear and reappear during continuous scanning. There are also fresh conductive spots that develop during scanning. The automated workflow is universal and can be integrated into a wide range of microscopy techniques, including SPM, electron microscopy, optical microscopy, and chemical imaging.

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Exploring leakage in dielectric films via automated experiments in scanning probe microscopy

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