Scaling Ferroelectrics: Breakthroughs in HfO₂-Based Memory at E-MRS Strasbourg
The E-MRS 2025 Spring Meeting held in Strasbourg from May 26–30, 2025, showcased ground breaking advancements in materials science across 23 symposia. Among these, Symposium H, dedicated to hafnia-based ferroelectrics, stood out for its strong participation from both academia and industry, reflecting the growing importance of HfO₂-based materials in next-generation memory and logic devices
Lukas Martin (TU Dresden) delivered an insightful talk titled “Scaling Limits and Retention in HfO₂-Based FeFETs”, where he explored the challenges of ferroelectric stability at sub-10 nm technology nodes.
Isabel Rivera (IMEC) presented “Controlling Oxygen Vacancies for Reliable HZO Memory Devices” focusing on defect engineering strategies to enhance endurance and retention.
Uwe Schröder (NaMLab/TU Dresden), a leading expert in hafnia ferroelectrics, contributed a highly anticipated talk on “Field-Driven Phase Stabilization in Doped HfO₂ Thin Films”. His presentation provided new insights into the kinetics of ferroelectric phase formation under applied electric fields, and discussed recent progress in achieving ultra-thin (<5 nm) ferroelectric layers with robust polarization, a critical step toward low-power FeRAM and FeFET applications.
Gunjan Yadav (CEA Saclay) presented “Thickness-Dependent Polarization and Vacancy Behavior in Hf₀.₅Zr₀.₅O₂ Capacitors”, which systematically analyzed wake-up effects and oxygen vacancy dynamics in HZO films of varying thicknesses.
Additional posters covered topics such as: 3D FeRAM architectures for high-density memory, neuromorphic computing using multi-level ferroelectric switching and in-situ TEM and HAXPES studies of polarization switching mechanisms. The symposium featured strong industry participation, with researchers from GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Samsung, and Applied Materials presenting on BEOL (Back-End-of-Line) integration challenges and manufacturing scalability.
Discover more about the event here.