Strain gradients in epitaxial ferroelectrics
- Materials Science Center, University of Groningen, Groningen 9747AG (Netherlands)
- Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
X-ray analysis of ferroelectric thin layers of Ba{sub 1/2}Sr{sub 1/2}TiO{sub 3} with different thicknesses reveals the presence of strain gradients across the films and allows us to propose a functional form for the internal strain profile. We use this to calculate the influence of strain gradient, through flexoelectric coupling, on the degradation of the ferroelectric properties of films with decreasing thickness, in excellent agreement with the observed behavior. This paper shows that strain relaxation can lead to smooth, continuous gradients across hundreds of nanometers, and it highlights the pressing need to avoid such strain gradients in order to obtain ferroelectric films with bulklike properties.
- OSTI ID:
- 20719116
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 72, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.72.020102; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Composition gradient effects on strain relaxation in Sr-doped LaMnO{sub 3} epitaxial thin films
Giant optical enhancement of strain gradient in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin films and its physical origin