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Understanding the ferroelectric switching in freestanding BiFeO<sub>3</sub> films

ORAL

Abstract

The goal to achieve the low-voltage switching in BiFeO3 could be significant for reducing the energy consumption for the electric field control of magnetism, and promoting the prospect of ultra-low power ferroelectric memories. Although several strategies have been proposed, such as size scaling, strain engineering or achieving high-quality of crystals, the value of switching voltage has been still limited. In this work, we design the freestanding BiFeO3 films for elucidating the ferroelectricity without the “clamping effect” from substrate. Due to the release of the imposed strain from substrate, the lattice distortion and a reduced c/a value are observed. And the ferroelectric domain pattern of BiFeO3 shows a highly-order to disorder transition after freestanding. This inhomogeneous domain structure might be induced by the release of the clamping effect from the substrate and could be one of the reasons for the reduced switching voltage in the freestanding BiFeO3. It indicates that the freestanding methodology may pave a new pathway toward the next-generation low-power ferroelectric memory.

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Presenters

  • Qiwu Shi

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley; Sichuan University

Authors

  • Qiwu Shi

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley; Sichuan University

  • Yen-Lin Huang

    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley

  • Hongrui Zhang

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

  • Xiaoxi Huang

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley

  • Sujit Das

    University of California, Berkeley, USA, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley, Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

  • Ramamoorthy Ramesh

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley