Article (Scientific journals)
Scaling of structure and electrical properties in ultrathin epitaxial ferroelectric heterostructures
Nagarajan, V.; Junquera, J.; He, J. Q. et al.
2006In Journal of Applied Physics, 100, p. 051609
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
 

Files


Full Text
2006-JAP100-051609.pdf
Publisher postprint (1.07 MB)
Request a copy

All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.

Send to



Details



Abstract :
[en] Scaling of the structural order parameter, polarization, and electrical properties was investigated in model ultrathin epitaxial SrRuO3/PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3/SrRuO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images revealed the interfaces to be sharp and fully coherent. Synchrotron x-ray studies show that a high tetragonality (c/a similar to 1.058) is maintained down to 50 angstrom thick films, suggesting indirectly that ferroelectricity is fully preserved at such small thicknesses. However, measurement of the switchable polarization (Delta P) using a pulsed probe setup and the out-of-plane piezoelectric response (d(33)) revealed a systematic drop from similar to 140 mu C/cm(2) and 60 pm/V for a 150 angstrom thick film to 11 mu C/cm(2) and 7 pm/V for a 50 angstrom thick film. This apparent contradiction between the structural measurements and the measured switchable polarization is explained by an increasing presence of a strong depolarization field, which creates a pinned 180 degrees polydomain state for the thinnest films. Existence of a polydomain state is demonstrated by piezoresponse force microscopy images of the ultrathin films. These results suggest that the limit for a ferroelectric memory device may be much larger than the fundamental limit for ferroelectricity. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.
Disciplines :
Physics
Author, co-author :
Nagarajan, V.
Junquera, J.
He, J. Q.
Jia, C. L.
Waser, R.
Lee, K.
Kim, Y. K.
Baik, S.
Zhao, T.
Ramesh, R.
Ghosez, Philippe  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de physique > Physique théorique des matériaux
Rabe, K. M.
Language :
English
Title :
Scaling of structure and electrical properties in ultrathin epitaxial ferroelectric heterostructures
Publication date :
01 September 2006
Journal title :
Journal of Applied Physics
ISSN :
0021-8979
eISSN :
1089-7550
Publisher :
Amer Inst Physics, Melville, United States - New York
Volume :
100
Pages :
051609
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 02 December 2009

Statistics


Number of views
21 (0 by ULiège)
Number of downloads
0 (0 by ULiège)

Scopus citations®
 
104
Scopus citations®
without self-citations
90
OpenCitations
 
102

Bibliography


Similar publications



Contact ORBi