*2.2. Characterization of HZO Thin Films*

The thickness and refractive index of the deposited single oxides of HfO2 and ZrO2 and the HZO thin films were evaluated using an ellipsometer (Elli-SE, Ellipso technology, Suwon, Korea). The shape of the thin film cross-section and the elemental composition were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (NEO ARM, JEOL, Tokyo, Japan) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) (JED-2300T, JEOL, Tokyo, Japan), respectively. The crystalline structure of the HZO thin films was measured by high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) (Smartlab, Rigaku, Tokyo, Japan) in Bragg–Brentano geometry, and the density of the thin film was calculated through X-ray reflectometry (XRR) analysis on the same instrument. Electrical properties such as the P-E curve and fatigue endurance of

the thin film were evaluated using a TF analyzer (TF-2000E, aixACCT, Aachen, Germany) connected to a microprobe station (APX-6B, WIT, Suwon, Korea). Hysteresis loop measurements were performed at a frequency of 1 kHz with a triangle pulse of ±3 V. Fatigue endurance measurements were conducted by the continuous application of a square pulse of ±3 V at 10 kHz along with a 1 kHz triangle pulse that was applied five times at each time point to measure remnant polarization.

**Figure 1.** Schematic of PEALD setup used in this study.


**Table 2.** Conditions for rapid thermal annealing of HZO thin films after TiN top electrode deposition.
