Impact of lanthanum doping on the electronic structure of oxygen vacancies in hafnium oxide

The electronic structure of oxygen vacancies in lanthanum-doped hafnium oxide (HfO2:La) is studied using the density functional theory. The simulation is carried out for the optimal structure of HfO2:La in three crystalline phases for an oxygen vacancy involved in the impurity charge compensation that is structural element, as well as for a second purposely added oxygen vacancy. It is shown that the HfO2 doping with La increases the oxygen vacancy content in such a way that the twice positively charged vacancy concentration increases and the neutral one decreases. The doping with La facilitates new oxygen vacancies formation in HfO2. Oxygen vacancies in HfO2:La and HfO2 have a similar electronic structure and are traps for electrons. However, the deeper trap and the electrostatic repulsion caused by the impurity in HfO2:La suppress the vacancies participation in the charge transport. Based on the obtained results, the mechanisms of HfO2-based resistive and ferroelectric memory improvements, when HfO2 doped with lanthanum, are discussed.