In-situ Monitoring of Interface Proximity Effects in Ultrathin Ferroelectrics

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2020 Nov 17

PMID 33199714

Citations 5

Authors

Nives Strkalj

Chiara Gattinoni

Alexander Vogel

Marco Campanini

Rea Haerdi

Antonella Rossi

Marta D Rossell

Nicola A Spaldin

Manfred Fiebig

Morgan Trassin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The development of energy-efficient nanoelectronics based on ferroelectrics is hampered by a notorious polarization loss in the ultrathin regime caused by the unscreened polar discontinuity at the interfaces. So far, engineering charge screening at either the bottom or the top interface has been used to optimize the polarization state. Yet, it is expected that the combined effect of both interfaces determines the final polarization state; in fact the more so the thinner a film is. The competition and cooperation between interfaces have, however, remained unexplored so far. Taking PbTiO as a model system, we observe drastic differences between the influence of a single interface and the competition and cooperation of two interfaces. We investigate the impact of these configurations on the PbTiO polarization when the interfaces are in close proximity, during thin-film synthesis in the ultrathin limit. By tailoring the interface chemistry towards a cooperative configuration, we stabilize a robust polarization state with giant polarization enhancement. Interface cooperation hence constitutes a powerful route for engineering the polarization in thin-film ferroelectrics towards improved integrability for oxide electronics in reduced dimension.

Citing Articles

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3D Conformal Fabrication of Piezoceramic Films.

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