Very large phase shift of microwave signals in a 6 nm Hf x Zr1-x O2 ferroelectric at ±3 V

Abstract

In this letter, we report for the first time very large phase shifts of microwaves in the 1-10 GHz range, in a 1 mm long gold coplanar interdigitated structure deposited over a 6 nm Hf _x Zr_1-x O₂ ferroelectric grown directly on a high resistivity silicon substrate. The phase shift is larger than 60° at 1 GHz and 13° at 10 GHz at maximum applied DC voltages of ±3 V, which can be supplied by a simple commercial battery. In this way, we demonstrate experimentally that the new ferroelectrics based on HfO₂ could play an important role in the future development of wireless communication systems for very low power applications.