Hydrogen induced imprint mechanism of Pt/PZT/Pt capacitor by low temperature hydrogen treatment

Abstract We found that low temperature and low pressure hydrogen annealing induced a severe voltage shift (imprint) of P – V hysteresis loop of Pt/PZT/Pt capacitor. The amount of shift depended on the annealing temperature and hydrogen pressure, and was about 0.8 V at 60°C, 10 min., 230 mTorr. From SIMS analyses, it was found that hydrogen accumulated at the interfaces between Pt and PZT after the annealing. The voltage shift increased with the increase in hydrogen concentration at the interfaces. The accumulated hydrogen is thought to reduce the PZT film and create oxygen vacancies at the interfaces, which act as fixed positive charges. The shift direction indicates that an internal bias field directed toward the bottom electrode was formed in the PZT film. This indicates that the hydrogen treatment resulted in a fixed positive charge being formed mainly at the interface between the top Pt and PZT. Detailed SIMS analyses revealed that PZT near the bottom electrode was conductive. Therefore, the oxygen va...