Room temperature ferroelectricity in pulsed laser deposited rare-earth doped hafnium oxide (HfO 2) thin films is discussed. Maximum values of remnant polarizations (P r)∼ 13.5 and 12 μC/cm 2 along with coercive fields (E C)∼ 334 and 384 kV/cm are observed in 6 mol.% of rare-earth (Sm or Gd) doped-HfO 2 thin films (Sm: HfO 2 and Gd: HfO 2), respectively. Piezoresponse force microscopy measurements confirmed ferroelectric nature of films by showing phase hysteresis and butterfly amplitude loops. It is noticed that wake-up cycles improved the remnant polarization and found to be necessary for the forming of well saturated hysteresis loops. Our results showed potential toward realization of future highly scaled non-volatile ferroelectric memories.