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Imprint in Ferroelectric Thin Films Caused by Screening of an Electric Field in a Thin Surface Layer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2011

Michael Grossmann
Affiliation:
IWE II, RWTH University of Technology, 52056 Aachen, Germany
Oliver Lohse
Affiliation:
IWE II, RWTH University of Technology, 52056 Aachen, Germany
Dierk Bolten
Affiliation:
IWE II, RWTH University of Technology, 52056 Aachen, Germany
Ulrich Boettger
Affiliation:
IWE II, RWTH University of Technology, 52056 Aachen, Germany
Rainer Waser
Affiliation:
FZJ Research Center Juelich, 52425 Juelich, Germany
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Abstract

Imprint describes an aging effect in ferroelectric thin films which manifests itself by a shift of the P-V hysteresis loop on the voltage axis. In this paper a mechanism is described which attributes imprint to the screening of a large electric field within a thin surface layer by electronic charges. The field at the surface arises due to the existence of a thin surface layer in which the spontaneous ferroelectric polarization is suppressed. In the course of aging this field is gradually screened by electronic charges which are generated by a Frenkel-Poole effect and then become trapped near the electrode-thin-film interface causing the shift of the hysteresis loop. A numerical simulation based on this model allows a quantitative description of the imprint effect as a function of various experimental parameters.

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Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

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