6533b829fe1ef96bd128a160

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Strain-induced improvement of retention loss in PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 films

Er-jia GuoEr-jia GuoEr-jia GuoRobert RothAndreas HerklotzAndreas HerklotzAndreas HerklotzKathrin DörrKathrin DörrSujit DasSujit Das

subject

Non-volatile memoryMaterials sciencePhysics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)Strain (chemistry)Chemical physicsElectrodeRelaxation (NMR)Exponential decayThin filmFerroelectricityOrder of magnitude

description

The retention behavior of nanoscale domains in PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 thin films is investigated by in-situ controlling the epitaxial strain arising from a piezoelectric substrate. The retention behavior in our sample shows strong polarity-dependence: Upward-poled domains exhibit excellent stability, whereas downward-poled domains reveal a stretched exponential decay. Reversible release of in-plane compressive strain strongly reduced the retention loss, reflected in an enhancement of the relaxation time by up to one order of magnitude. We tentatively attribute the observed behavior to a strain dependence of the built-in field at the interface to the La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 bottom electrode, with a possible further contribution of strain-dependent screening of the depolarizing field. Our work directly reveals the importance of epitaxial strain for reducing ferroelectric domain relaxation which is detrimental for applications such as nonvolatile memory devices.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2015-02-16Applied Physics Letters
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4913421