Robust room-temperature ferroelectricity in the wide-bandgap semiconductor Ga <sub>2</sub> O <sub>3</sub>
Jiaying Shen, Weng Fu Io, Chang Liu, Yiyang Wen, Han Wu, Yilin Cao, Yongtao Yang, DONG Dianmeng, Fan Zhang, Songhua Cai, Wei Ren, Xianran Xing, Yang Zhang, Zhenping Wu, Jianhua Hao
Abstract
For decades, the integration of power handling and nonvolatile memory has been fundamentally impeded by the incompatibility between wide-bandgap semiconductors and ferroelectric materials. We resolve this challenge by demonstrating robust room-temperature ferroelectricity in epitaxial metastable κ-Ga 2 O 3 , grown via industry-compatible metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, creating an intrinsically ferroelectric wide-bandgap semiconductor. Through systematic characterization including piezoresponse force microscopy, polarization hysteresis measurements, and positive up–negative down tests, we provide conclusive evidence of stable ferroelectric switching down to 5-nanometer thickness—exceeding conventional ferroelectric limits—via a unique octahedral-tetrahedral transformation. Ferroelectric tunnel junctions achieve giant tunneling electroresistance exceeding 10 5 . This fundamental discovery in a mainstream semiconductor challenges conventional materials paradigms and enables monolithic integration of power and memory functionalities on a unified platform.