• Journal of Advanced Dielectrics
  • Vol. 14, Issue 3, 2340010 (2024)
Lingzhi Lu1, Chunyan Zheng1, Weijie Zheng1、2, Chenyu Dong1、2, Yuhao Yue1、2, Yawen Xu1、2, and Zheng Wen1、2、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1College of Physics, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266071, P. R. China
  • 2College of Electronics and Information, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266071, P. R. China
  • show less
    DOI: 10.1142/S2010135X23400106 Cite this Article
    Lingzhi Lu, Chunyan Zheng, Weijie Zheng, Chenyu Dong, Yuhao Yue, Yawen Xu, Zheng Wen. Effects of interfacial buffering layer on imprint and domain switching dynamics in Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin-film heterostructures[J]. Journal of Advanced Dielectrics, 2024, 14(3): 2340010 Copy Citation Text show less

    Abstract

    Interfacial engineering is important for ferroelectric thin-film heterostructures because of the modulation of boundary conditions of the spontaneous polarizations and their switching behaviors, which are essential for ferroelectric electronics. In this work, we study the effects of interfacial buffering layer, 5-nm-thick SrTiO3 (STO), on the imprint and domain switching of epitaxial Pt/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3/SrRuO3 (SRO) thin-film heterostructures and capacitors. By buffering the ultrathin SrTiO3 layer at the Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 surface, the imprint effect can be dramatically alleviated as observed in the piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM)-measured domain structures and polarization–electric field hysteresis loops in thin-film capacitors. However, when the SrTiO3 layer is buffered at the Pb(Zr,Ti)O3/SrRuO3 interface, the imprint effect is slightly increased. These phenomena are explained based on the band alignments among the Pt and SrRuO3 electrodes and the Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 layer associated with the existence of oxygen vacancies in the SrTiO3 layer. With the reduction of imprint effect, the domain switching dynamics are also improved in the SrTiO3-buffered Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 capacitor, in which the switching activation field is decreased by about 45.3% in comparison with that of the pristine capacitor. These results facilitate the design and optimization of ferroelectric devices with the improvements in domain configurations, switching behaviors and band alignments.
    Lingzhi Lu, Chunyan Zheng, Weijie Zheng, Chenyu Dong, Yuhao Yue, Yawen Xu, Zheng Wen. Effects of interfacial buffering layer on imprint and domain switching dynamics in Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin-film heterostructures[J]. Journal of Advanced Dielectrics, 2024, 14(3): 2340010
    Download Citation