存储器用铁电薄膜及电极材料的研究

铁电体独特的自发电极化双稳性质和非线性光学性质使其在光电子器件中得到广泛应用．为了实现器件的小型化和与微电子、光电子工艺兼容，铁电薄膜已成为一个研究热点．自发电极化的大小和取向以及外电场、缺陷和铁电薄膜／电极界面与自发电极化的交互作用决定了铁电薄膜的性质和服役行为．文章以铁电存储器和光电子器件应用为背景，选择了具有重大应用前景的Bi4-xLaxTi3O12（BLT）、SrBi2Ta2O9（SBT）、PbZrxTi1-xO3（PET）和LiNbO3（LN）铁电薄膜以及相关的La（Sr，Co）O3（LSCO）和LaNiO3（LNO）等电极材料为研究对象，研究了缺陷电荷和电畴的交互作用和它们在交变外电场中的动力学行为，探明了铁电薄膜疲劳现象的物理本质；从晶格结构与缺陷的观察研究入手，探索了材料铁电性质的起源和优化材料铁电性质的途径；从铁电薄膜／电极界面结构与性质的研究入手，寻找更有效、更稳定的电极材料与结构，从而为器件应用打下了基础；在研究外电场对铁电薄膜生长机制影响的基础上，找到了利用外电场调控铁电薄膜结构的新途径，发展了新的、与半导体器件和光电子器件工艺兼容的制膜方法．     

Growth behavior of high k LaAlO3 films on Si by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition for alternative gate dielectric application

LaAlO₃ (LAO) is explored in this work to replace SiO₂ as the gate dielectric material in metal–oxide–semiconductor field effect transistor. Amorphous LAO gate dielectric films were deposited on Si (0 0 1) substrates by low pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using La(dpm)₃ and Al(acac)₃ sources. The effect of processing parameters such as deposition temperature and precursor vapor flux on growth, structure, morphology, and composition of LAO films has been investigated by various analytical methods deeply. The film growth mechanism on Si is reaction limiting instead of mass transport control. The reaction is thermally activated with activation energy of 37 kJ/mol. In the initial growth stage, Al element is deficient due to higher nucleation barrier on Si. The LAO films show a smooth surface and good thermal stability and remain amorphous up to a high temperature of 850 °C. The electrical properties of amorphous LAO ultrathin films on Si have also been evaluated, indicating LAO is suitable for high k gate dielectric applications.     

Role of interference between localized and propagating surface waves on the extraordinary optical transmission through a subwavelength-aperture array

We report in this Letter that when radiation is incident on a metal surface perforated with an array of ring-shaped subwavelength apertures, the phase difference between the propagating surface Bloch wave and the localized surface wave can be tailored by the geometrical parameters of the array so as to affect the shape of the transmission spectrum. Above the resonant frequency of the aperture, interference between the two kinds of surface waves leads to a minimum in the transmission spectrum, whereas below it, the interference leads to a maximum. We suggest that this feature provides flexibility in engineering surface-wave-based all-optical devices.     

Extraordinary acoustic transmission through a 1D grating with very narrow apertures

Recently, there has been an increased interest in studying extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) through subwavelength aperture arrays perforated in a metallic film. In this Letter, we report that the transmission of an incident acoustic wave through a one-dimensional acoustic grating can also be drastically enhanced. This extraordinary acoustic transmission (EAT) has been investigated both theoretically and experimentally, showing that the coupling between the diffractive wave and the wave-guide mode plays an important role in EAT. This phenomenon can have potential applications in acoustics and also might provide a better understanding of EOT in optical subwavelength systems.     

Resonant optical transmission through a one-dimensional photonic crystal adjacent to a thin metal film

We theoretically and experimentally reveal that the large resonant optical transmission (ROT) can be realized through a one-dimensional photonic crystal adjacent to a thin metal film, at a frequency in the original band-gap of the photonic crystal (PC). The influence of periodic number of PC and the thickness of the adjacent metal on the transmission frequency and intensity is studied in detail. An optimum design is given to reach the maximum transmission efficiency, meanwhile a mechanism underlining the ROT phenomenon is proposed. An effective admittance-matching theory is proposed to understand this effect and quantitatively determine the operating frequency, which matches very well with the simulated and measured results. The effects might be very useful to realize some optical filters and sensor devices since the structure is easy for mass production and is matured technically to be prepared in industry.     

Magneto-electric coupling in piezoelectric-piezomagnetic superlattices

A piezoelectric-piezomagnetic superlattice (PPS) is proposed to present the magneto-electric (ME) coupling wherein electric polarization induces magnetization or vice versa through the layer's coherent strain. We reveal that in PPS, the interaction of electromagnetic waves with the correspondent alternative piezoelectric and piezomagnetic superlattices through their vibrations excites the piezoelectric and the piezomagnetic phonon polaritons simultaneously. The polaritons couple with each other to give rise to a stop band, in which double negative permittivity and permeability can be realized, however negative refraction could not occur. The coupling also results in the huge dynamic ME effect which attributes to the large ME voltage coefficient in a BaTiO₃-CoFe₂O₄ superlattice as large as 14.9 V cm⁻¹ Oe⁻¹.     

Consecutive rotation of crystallographic orientation in lateral growth

A consecutive rotation of crystallographic orientation has been observed in lateral crystallization of NH4Cl on a glass substrate, which induces a periodic distribution of faceted and roughened regions on the surface of a crystallite aggregate. Experimental observation indicates that this phenomenon derives from the asymmetric surface energies at the growth front, which deform the nascent nucleus and tilt the crystallographic orientation in the nucleation-mediated layered growth. We suggest that this effect is significant for a class of lateral growth where nucleation plays a dominate role.     

Invited review

The studies of superlattices in ferroelectric crystals have made a rapid progress since 1980s. A superlattice is composed of modulated domains on the micron scale, controllable with modern techniques. It reveals a number of novel physical properties of optical and acoustic character. In this paper, we review recent advances in developing new techniques for fabrication and characterization of ferroelectric superlattices, and in exploring new physical effects for applications. The outlook for superlattice applications is briefly described.     

Ferroelectric properties of bilayer structured Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3/SrBi2Ta2O9 (PZT/SBT) thin films on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates

Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ (PZT) thin films with large remanent polarization and SrBi₂Ta₂O₉ (SBT) thin films with excellent fatigue-resisting characteristic have been widely studied for non-volatile random access memories, respectively. To combine these two advantages_, bilayered Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃/SrBi₂Ta₂O₉ (PZT/SBT) thin films were fabricated on Pt/TiO₂/SiO₂/Si substrates by chemical solution deposition method. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that the diffraction peaks of PZT/SBT thin films were completely composed of PZT and SBT, and no other secondary phase was observed. The electrical properties of the bilayered structure PZT/SBT films have been investigated in comparison with pure PZT and SBT films. PZT/SBT bilayered thin films showed larger remanent polarization (2P_r) of 18.37 μC/cm² than pure SBT and less polarization fatigue up to 1 × 10⁹ switching cycles than pure PZT. These results indicated that this bilayered structure of PZT/SBT is a promising material combination for ferroelectric memory applications.     

Dielectric superlattices for nonlinear optical effects

Dielectric superlattices show a lot of new phenomena that are promising in applications, such as nonlinear optical frequency conversion and optical bistability. This paper reviews the main achievements in this field. Much has been focused on the work done in our Lab. Since 1980, we have extended the concept of superlattice from semiconductor to dielectrics. When quasi-phase-matching technique is introduced into a quasiperiodic dielectric superlattice, more interesting phenomena can occur. For example, multiwavelength second-harmonic generation and coupled parametric processes such as direct third-harmonic generation have been realized with high efficiency. A new mechanism for optical bistability in a 2-dimensional dielectric superlattice, i.e. a 2-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystal, has been proposed theoretically had proved experimentally.