In a study published in Science<\/a>, a UC Berkeley-led team of researchers discovered they can transform titanium dioxide (TiO\u2082) into a ferroelectric material by reducing its thickness to less than 3 nanometers (nm), roughly the diameter of a single strand of human DNA. These findings, according to the researchers, could open a pathway toward ultra-scaled, energy-efficient electronic devices.<\/p>\nFerroelectric materials, with their ability to switch electric polarizations, have a long history in the semiconductor industry. Today, many researchers believe that they may hold the key to enabling next-generation, energy-efficient nanoelectronics, including non-volatile memory, logic devices and emerging computing technologies.<\/p>\n
But achieving robust ferroelectric behavior in an ultrathin material \u2014 an important factor in the miniaturized world of semiconductors \u2014 has posed a major obstacle. Another hurdle has been finding a ferroelectric material that can integrate well with existing silicon-based technologies.<\/p>\n
To address these challenges, researchers from UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory took a closer look at TiO\u2082. This material is widely used in modern computing chips as a dielectric, meaning it stores electrical charge but doesn\u2019t demonstrate any electric polarization. By simply making TiO\u2082 ultrathin, the researchers found that they could change its electronic properties.<\/p>\n
According to Sayeef Salahuddin, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and of materials science and engineering, these findings demonstrate how engineering materials at an atomic-scale thickness can unlock unexpected physical phenomena.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were quite surprised when we discovered that as the thickness of TiO\u2082 films dropped below 3 nm, the material becomes ferroelectric, a phase in which it shows spontaneous electric polarization that can be switched by applying an electric field,\u201d said Salahuddin, the study\u2019s principal investigator and a senior faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. \u201cMore importantly, this new ferroelectric behavior remains stable in films as thin as about 1 nm, approximately two unit-cells thick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Based on this study, reducing a material\u2019s thickness might provide a new way to control ferroelectricity and phase transition. Their findings also suggest, said Salahuddin, that other common dielectric materials of this class, commonly known as binary oxides or fluorite structure oxides, might develop new electronic behaviors in atomic-scale dimensions.<\/p>\n
Koushik Das, a graduate researcher in the College of Chemistry and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, explained how making a material thinner can induce ferroelectricity. Reducing the thickness of the TiO\u2082 film, said Das, changes its crystal structure, creating a \u201cbuilt-in electric polarization\u201d that can be reversed with an electric field.<\/p>\n
The study also showed that these ultrathin TiO\u2082 films retain their ferroelectric properties when deposited on different substrates. \u201cOur work demonstrates that this ferroelectricity is stable on both crystalline, or silicon, and amorphous carbon film substrates,\u201d said Das, the study\u2019s lead author. \u201cThis indicates the feasibility of integration with silicon-based technologies and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Das pointed out another advantage of TiO\u2082: its compatibility with existing semiconductor manufacturing processes. \u201cThe ultrathin TiO\u2082 films can be grown at a low temperature, less than 400\u00b0C, using atomic layer deposition [ALD], a technique already used in state-of the-art chip fabrication,\u201d he said. \u201cFurthermore, we can produce thin films with uniform thickness across all surfaces and polarization properties conducive to enabling new functionality for 3D integrated electronics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond its immediate technological applications, this work also reveals a broader scientific insight, according to Salahuddin. \u201cWe\u2019ve shown that simply reducing a material\u2019s thickness can fundamentally change its properties as well as unlock functionalities with many exciting, new applications,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In addition to Salahuddin and Das, other co-authors from UC Berkeley include Kate Reidy, Sajid Husain, Jong Ho Park, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Andrew Minor and Archana Raja. Please view the study<\/a> for a complete list of authors and their affiliations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ultrathin titanium dioxide film exhibits surprising properties that could advance semiconductor technology May 4, 2026 by Marni Ellery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-302140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}