Evolution of the switching current during the accumulation of fatigue in lead titanate and lead zirconate titanate thin films

The fatigue processes caused by repeated cyclic switching of polarization in lead titanate and lead zirconate titanate thin films on silicon substrates by applying rectangular pulse and sine wave fields are investigated. Upon an increase in the cycling number, an increase in the coercive and internal bias fields is observed, along with a reduction in the switching current maximum, the switching time, and the switchable polarization. At the same time, no change in the mobility of domain boundaries is observed.     

Nanosecond dynamics of ferroelectric/dielectric superlattices

The nanosecond response of a PbTiO(3)/SrTiO(3) ferroelectric/dielectric superlattice to applied electric fields is closely linked to the dynamics of striped domains of the remnant polarization. The intensity of domain satellite reflections observed with time-resolved x-ray microdiffraction decays in 5-100 ns depending on the magnitude of the electric field. The piezoelectric response of the superlattice within stripe domains is strongly suppressed due to electromechanical clamping between adjacent regions of opposite polarization. Regions of the superlattice that have been switched into a uniform polarization state by the applied electric field, however, exhibit piezoelectricity during the course of the switching process. We propose a switching model different from previous models of the switching of superlattices, based instead on a spatially heterogeneous transformation between striped and uniform polarization states.     

Nanosecond domain wall dynamics in ferroelectric Pb(Zr, Ti)O(3) thin films

Domain wall motion during polarization switching in ferroelectric thin films is fundamentally important and poses challenges for both experiments and modeling. We have visualized the switching of a Pb(Zr, Ti)O(3) capacitor using time-resolved x-ray microdiffraction. The structural signatures of switching include a reversal in the sign of the piezoelectric coefficient and a change in the intensity of x-ray reflections. The propagation of polarization domain walls is highly reproducible from cycle to cycle of the electric field. Domain wall velocities of 40 m s(-1) are consistent with the results of other methods, but are far less than saturation values expected at high electric fields.     

Radio-frequency Mössbauer spectra of the “easy”-plane type magnetic system (FeBO3)

The theory of formation of the RF Mössbauer spectra for the “easy”-plane type magnetics (FeBO₃) and for various types of RF field polarization is presented. Experiments using both linearly and circularly polarized external RF fields were carried out at different temperatures. At room temperature the experimental spectra for both cases are well described by switching hyperfine (hf) field model. At temperatures close to the Neel temperature (335 K), the spectra in the oscillating and rotating RF field were obtained and their forms are described by models of switching and rotating hf field, respectively.     

Switching kinetics of ferroelastic ferroelectrics

Switching kinetics of uniaxial ferroelastic ferroelectrics (FFs) in external electric and stress fields is studied using classical theory of nucleation and growth. The stage in which the polarization and deformation reversal involves the main body of the FF and the final stage (Ostwald ripening) of the FF switching are studied with allowance for the change in the repolarization and redeformation during the phase transition. The time dependences of the repolarization and redeformation are found, and equations are derived from which the polarization current and the deformation flux, as well as their time dependence, can be calculated. The calculated main characteristics of the FF switching are compared with the experimental data for switching of Rochelle salt single crystals.     

Potential distribution in ferroelectric ceramic during pulsed exoelectron emission

The potential and polarization distributions in a planar emitting layer of PLZT-9/65/35 ferroelectric ceramic with a set of conductive strip electrodes on the emitting side and a continuous electrode on the opposite side are studied by numerical methods. The state arising immediately after polarization switching at the leading edge of an applied voltage pulse (i.e., before the polarization charges are screened by free charges) is considered. When the pulsed field strength far exceeds the double coercive field, regions with alternating polarization are found to form in the surface layer between the strips. The normal component of the polarization at its maxima is close to saturation. The electric field on both sides of the surface varies as the polarization vector and reaches 200 kV/cm. At surface microirregularities, the electric field strength is much higher. This means that field emission is responsible for electron escape from the ferroelectric ceramic during pulsed polarization switching.     

Hysteresis phenomena in the course of polarization evolution in a sinusoidal electric field in lead magnesium niobate crystals

The processes of polarization evolution in single crystals of the PbMg_1/3Nb_2/3O₃ model ferroelectric relaxor in a sinusoidal electric field are investigated at temperatures near and above the temperature T _d 0 of destruction of the induced ferroelectric state upon heating in zero electric field. The polarization switching current loops are measured in the ac electric field applied along the 〈111〉 and 〈110〉 pseudocubic directions. The electroluminescence intensity loops are obtained under the combined action of ac and dc electric fields applied along the 〈100〉 direction. In a certain temperature range above T _d 0 and the freezing temperature T _f in lead magnesium niobate, there are electric current anomalies, that correspond to the dynamic formation and subsequent destruction of the ferroelectric macroregions throughout each half-cycle of the ac electric field. The measurements of electroluminescence hysteresis loops demonstrate that the observed depolarization delay (related to the ac electric field amplitude) increases with an increase in the dc electric field and decreases as the ac field amplitude increases. The nature of the observed phenomena is discussed.     

First-order phase transition from an antiferromagnetic ferroelectric to a cycloidal multiferroic with weak ferromagnetism during the joint action of applied magnetic and electric fields

The thermodynamics of the phase transition in a perovskite-like multiferroic, in which an antiferromagnetic ferroelectric transforms into a new magnetic state where a spiral spin structure and weak ferromagnetism can coexist in applied magnetic field H, is described. This state forms as a result of a first-order phase transition at a certain temperature (below Néel temperature T _N ), where a helicoidal magnetic structure appears due to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya effect. In this case, the axes of electric polarization and the helicoid of magnetic moments are mutually perpendicular and lie in the ab plane, which is normal to principal axis c. Additional electric polarization p, which decreases the total polarization of the ferroelectric P, appears in the ab plane. The effect of applied magnetic and electric fields on the properties of a multiferroic with a helicoidal magnetic structure is described. An alternating electric field is shown to cause a field-linear change in magnetic moment m, whose sign is opposite to the sign of the change of electric field E. The detected hysteretic phenomena that determine the temperature ranges of overheating and supercooling of each phase are explained. A comparison with the experimental data is performed.     

Polarization switching kinetics in ferroelectrics in the region of strong metastability

The thermodynamics and kinetics of polarization switching in ferroelectrics are studied in the framework of the field theory in the vicinity of the critical point of first-order phase transitions. The study is exemplified by the switching of intrinsic ferroelectrics with 180° domains. An expression describing the dependence of the domain critical size on the switching field is derived. The switching process is studied at high switching fields. Relationships for calculating the field dependence of the number of switched domains are obtained.     

基于电子自旋弛豫全光开关中的瞬态特性

设计了基于电子自旋弛豫的透射式全光开关模犁.该光开关具有开关时间短、结构简单,光学非线性强等特点.研究在右旋圆偏振光抽运下 GaAs/AlGaAs半导体多量子阱(MQWs)中以相空间填充(PSF)和库仑屏蔽(CS)为主要因素导致的激子吸收饱和行为,计算与抽运光同向(探测光与抽运光的圆偏振方向相同)和反向(探测光与抽运光的圆偏振方向相反)的圆偏振探测光吸收系数的变化,得到两种圆偏振光差分透射率改变量随延迟时间的变化.实验采用飞秒抽运-探测技术,获得了室温下GaAs/AlGaAs多量子阱同向圆偏振探测光的透射曲线,观察到了明显的饱和吸收现象,与数值模拟的结果相符.     

Optimized annealing conditions to enhance stability of polarization in sputtered HfZrOx layers for non-volatile memory applications

In this paper, we report stable polarization switching in metal-HfZrO_x (HZO)-metal capacitors when pulses are repeatedly applied from the initial state. By examining various process parameters including annealing method, annealing temperature, and annealing time, we investigated the optimal conditions for realizing ferroelectricity in HZO layers deposited by sputtering systems. More specifically, we examined how polarization behaviors evolved as a function of annealing temperatures. Our results showed that annealing HZO capped by a top electrode, when annealing temperature was higher than 850 °C, drives the transformation to large quantities of orthorhombic phases, and enables constant remnant polarization without the fluctuations caused by wake-up and fatigue. We continued to observe stable polarization up to 10⁸ cycles with a pulse width of 5 μs.     

The effect of annealing temperature on the morphology and piezoelectric characteristics of BaTiO3 nanofibers and domain switching under different temperatures

Effects of annealing temperature (600–750 °C) on crystalline structure, the morphology and piezoresponse hysteresis loops of BaTiO₃ nanofibers prepared by electrospinning are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electronic microscopy, transmission electron microscope and piezoresponse force microscope. When the annealing temperature is 700 °C, the nanofibers become smoother and have a diameter of 100–300 nm. Meanwhile the typical butterfly-shaped amplitude loop and 180°phase change represents the best ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties at 700 °C. So the 700 °C was found to be optimum for good piezoelectric characteristics at annealing temperature of 600 °C–750 °C. In order to give more clear evolution of domain states at different external fields, the three dimensional topographic and phase images of the nanofiber at different temperatures are observed by piezoresponse force microscope. The 90° domain switching is observed during heating from room temperature to 125 °C and the domain switching tends to be stable when the temperature exceeds a critical value. The thermal stress due to the high temperatures is responsible for switching mechanism from the perspective of equilibrium state free energy. This work suggests that the temperature variation should be considered while designing the ferroelectric devices based on one dimensional material.     

Studies of nuclear resonant scattering at TRISTAN-AR

Studies of nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation undertaken with the X-ray undulator installed in the TRISTAN Accumulation Ring at the National Laboratory for High Energy Physics, KEK, are reported. These studies have evaluated the effect of fast magnetic switching on the nuclear collective decay in an FeBO₃ crystal, the change in the polarization state of nuclear Bragg scattering by fast magnetic switching, and the influence of this switching on the time evolution of the nuclear forward scattering. The phenomenon of interferometric nuclear forward scattering has also been studied.     

Fractal-cluster kinetics in phase transformations in the relaxor ceramic PLZT

Fractal formalism has been used to study the evolution of a heterophase state (consisting of polar nanoregions in a nonpolar matrix) subjected to polarization in an electric field within the diffuse phase transition in the transparent relaxor ferroelectric ceramic PLZT 8/65/35. The time dependences of the fractal dimensions of polar clusters under polarization switching and spontaneous backswitching at different temperatures have been derived from measurements of the elastic scattering of transmitted light. Various scenarios for the evolution of the heterophase and nanodomain states in relaxors with variation of the temperature and electric field are proposed. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 505–509 (March 1999)     

Fatigue of lead titanate and lead zirconate titanate thin films

The fatigue of lead titanate and lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric thin films, i.e., a change in the polarization as a function of the number of switching cycles in an external electric field, is investigated experimentally. The threshold numbers of switching cycles are determined to be 10¹⁰–10¹¹ for the lead titanate films and 10⁹–10¹⁰ for the lead zirconate titanate films. It is shown that a change in the temperature does not substantially affect the threshold number of switching cycles at which the switched polarization decreases drastically. However, an increase in the external field strength leads to a noticeable decrease in the threshold number of switching cycles. The process of fatigue is accompanied by an increase in the coercive field and the internal bias field. It is established that, as the number of switching cycles increases, the internal bias field changes more significantly as compared to the coercive field. The absence of a change in the phase composition in repeatedly switched samples indicates that the fatigue processes have a nonchemical nature. The anomaly observed in the frequency dependence of the permittivity in the frequency range 10⁶–10⁷ Hz due to the domain structure disappears after multiple switching cycles. This suggests that the observed fatigue phenomenon has a domain nature.     

忆阻器单阻态下的记忆电容行为及多态特性

采用供体-受体类型的共聚物构建了Al/共聚物/ITO结构的有机记忆器件,并对其电流-电压(I-V)和电容-电压(C-V)特性进行了研究.结果表明:器件不仅表现出明显的记忆电阻特征,而且在单个电阻状态下还存在记忆电容行为,使器件呈现出两种电阻状态和与之对应的四种电容状态,具有电阻和电容的双参量记忆能力.在此基础上对器件的电容开关行为进行了电压幅值的调制,使器件出现了更多的电容状态,为多级存储的实现提供了一条有效途径.最后通过引入分子内部极化算符,建立了记忆电阻和记忆电容的关联性,给出了描述器件双参量多状态特征的矩阵模型.     

Cold-field switching in PVDF-TrFE ferroelectric polymer nanomesas

Polarization reversal in ferroelectric nanomesas of polyvinylidene fluoride with trifluoroethylene has been probed by ultrahigh vacuum piezoresponse force microscopy in a wide temperature range from 89 to 326 K. In dramatic contrast to the macroscopic data, the piezoresponse force microscopy local switching was nonthermally activated and, at the same time, occurring at electric fields significantly lower than the intrinsic switching threshold. A "cold-field" defect-mediated extrinsic switching is shown to be an adequate scenario describing this peculiar switching behavior. The extrinsic character of the observed polarization reversal suggests that there is no fundamental bar for lowering the coercive field in ferroelectric polymer nanostructures, which is of importance for their applications in functional electronics.     

Polarization kinetics of a photosensitive relaxor ferroelectric

Polarization switching in alternating quasi-static electric fields of frequency 10^?4 Hz and polarization relaxation in dc fields were studied in a photosensitive La-and Ce-doped barium-strontium niobate relaxor ferroelectric. Experimental data obtained in the thermal activation stage of the relaxation were used to reconstruct the relaxation time distribution spectrum. The characteristics of the polarization kinetics of an illuminated and a dark crystal are compared. It is shown that, in the crystal illuminated by light, the photoconductivity compensates for random electric and depolarization fields, thereby giving rise to a growth in amplitude of the dielectric hysteresis loops in the polarization versus field relation and to longer polarization relaxation times or increased heights of the potential barriers separating stable states from metastable states.     

Influence of fatigue processes on the switching currents in lead titanate and lead zirconate-titanate films

The processes of polarization fatigue in PbTiO₃ and Pb(Zr_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃ films on silicon substrates have been studied by the method of switching in rectangular pulsed fields. Dependences of the switchable polarization, the maximum switching current i _max, and the switching time ??s on the number of switching cycles have been obtained from the data on the switching currents. It has been shown that the mobility of domain walls is retained in the fatigue processes and the observed fatigue is connected with switching off a fraction of the switchable volume due to pinning of reverse domain nuclei by charged defects.     

Fast polarization reversal in thin copolymer films of vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene

In this paper we present new experiments on the switching of the polarization in thin (<1 m) ferroelectric copolymer films of P(VDF-TrFE). We observed an unexpectedly short switching time for these thin films: The polarization of a 0.2 m thick film could be reversed by poling fields of 600 MV/m in less than 100 ns. This result which may revive interest in ferroelectric data storage is discussed in terms of a switching process which also involves the ohmic conductivity of the sample.