Exploring leakage in dielectric films via automated experiment 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 a 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 new conductive spots that appear 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.

12 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Conduction Channel Formation and Dissolution Due to Oxygen Thermophoresis/Diffusion in Hafnium Oxide Memristors
• Oxygen migration during resistance switching and failure of hafnium oxide memristors
• Experimental discovery of structure-property relationships in ferroelectric materials via active learning
• Automated and Autonomous Experiment in Electron and Scanning Probe Microscopy

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Building an Affordable Self-Driving Lab: Practical Machine Learning Experiments for Physics Education Using Internet-of-Things