Structure and Dynamics of Domains in Ferroelectric Nanostructures – Phase-Field Modeling (Final Technical Report)
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
Domain pattern formation is one of the most common phenomena in nature and is a topic of immense interest in many fields ranging from materials science and physics to chemistry and biology. This DOE sponsored research project explored the basic science concerning the thermodynamic stability of mesoscale polarization domain patterns and their temporal evolution mechanisms during formation and subsequent switching in ferroelectric nanostructures and heterostructures. The project employed the computational phase-field method in combination of microelasticity and electrostatic theories. The research was carried out in close collaboration with a number of experimental groups who used High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), in situ TEM with Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM), or Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM) to characterize the domain structures and dynamics of ferroelectric thin films and heterostructures and who grow high-quality ferroelectric and multiferroic thin films using advanced growth techniques such as Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE), Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLLD), and sputtering. The research efforts of the project help establish the phase-field method as the most powerful method for understanding and predicting domain structures in ferroelectric thin films and nanostructures. The findings of the project led to the basic understanding of stability and switching mechanisms of ferroelectric domains under different mechanical boundary conditions and under either homogeneous capacitor configurations or local fields using metallic probes as electrodes and the emergence of charged domain walls during domain switching. The project predicted the spatial length scales, temperature ranges, and electromechanical conditions for different polar states in heterostructures and guided the discovery of both transient and stable novel polarization states containing vortex lattices in oxide superlattices. The project resulted in 134 journal publications and 6 PhD theses with all the PhD graduates currently working in either academia or industry within the United States. The basic understanding on the stability of mesoscale polar states and pattern evolution achieved by the project improved our ability to control and engineer properties of ferroelectric thin films and heterostructures for potential applications in nanoscale electronic devices.
- Research Organization:
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-07ER46417
- OSTI ID:
- 1616792
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-PennState-46417
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Surface-screening mechanisms in ferroelectric thin films and their effect on polarization dynamics and domain structures
Exploring Polarization Rotation Phase Instabilities in Super-Tetragonal BiFeO3 Epitaxial Thin Films and Their Technological Implications