Formation of (111) orientation-controlled ferroelectric orthorhombic HfO₂ thin films from solid phase via annealing

0.07YO_1.5-0.93HfO₂ (YHO7) films were prepared on various substrates by pulse laser deposition at room temperature and subsequent heat treatment to enable a solid phase reaction. (111)-oriented 10 wt. % Sn-doped In₂O₃(ITO)//(111) yttria-stabilized zirconia, (111)Pt/TiO_x/SiO₂/(001)Si substrates, and (111)ITO/(111)Pt/TiO_x/SiO₂/(001)Si substrates were employed for film growth. In this study, X-ray diffraction measurements including θ–2θ measurements, reciprocal space mappings, and pole figure measurements were used to study the films. The film on (111)ITO//(111)yttria-stabilized zirconia was an (111)-orientated epitaxial film with ferroelectric orthorhombic phase; the film on (111)ITO/(111)Pt/TiO_x/SiO₂/(001)Si was an (111)-oriented uniaxial textured film with ferroelectric orthorhombic phase; and no preferred orientation was observed for the film on the (111)Pt/TiO_x/SiO₂/(001)Si substrate, which does not contain ITO. Polarization–hysteresis measurements confirmed that the films on ITO covered substrates had saturated ferroelectric hysteresis loops. A remanent polarization (P_r) of 9.6 and 10.8 μC/cm² and coercive fields (E_c) of 1.9 and 2.0 MV/cm were obtained for the (111)-oriented epitaxial and uniaxial textured YHO7 films, respectively. These results demonstrate that the (111)-oriented ITO bottom electrodes play a key role in controlling the orientation and ferroelectricity of the phase formation of the solid films deposited at room temperature.