New Insights into the Imprint Effect in FE-HfO2 and its Recovery.

The mechanism of imprint in FE-HfO 2 is investigated in detail. It is clearly shown that the imprint can be recovered by additional pulses and domain switching is indispensable for the recovery. The results from sub-loop measurement suggest that the imprint of each domain can be considered to be independent. Switching time measurements reveal that the imprint is well described by the nucleation limited switching kinetic model. In addition, a clear correlation between imprint and gate leakage current is successfully demonstrated. Based on these results, a model for imprint is proposed.