Jin Luo

Leakage current characteristics and Sm/Ti doping effect in BiFeO3 thin films on silicon wafers

The leakage current of BiFeO3 thin films can be reduced by Sm or Ti doping, and their codoping effect is significant. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the reduction in the leakage current can be ascribed to decreased Fe2+ ions and oxygen vacancies. The leakage mechanisms of pristine and doped BiFeO3 films were studied by analyzing their leakage current characteristics through curve fitting. It was found that Ti could stabilize the trapped carriers, while Sm might decrease the trap energy and contrarily benefit the excitation of the trapped carriers, which explains the greater effect of Ti in reducing the leakage current than that of Sm. The piezoelectric properties of Sm/Ti-codoped BiFe0.9Ti0.1O3 (BFO) films were comparable to those of pristine BFO owing to the enhanced electric breakdown despite their reduced remanent polarization.

Domain Evolution and Piezoelectric Response across Thermotropic Phase Boundary in (K,Na)NbO3-Based Epitaxial Thin Films

Recent research progress in (K,Na)NbO3 (KNN)-based lead-free piezoelectric ceramics has attracted increasing attention for their applications to microsystems or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in the form of thin films. This work demonstrates that high-quality KNN-based epitaxial films can be synthesized by a conventional sol-gel method, whose phase structure and domain characteristics have been investigated with emphasis on the temperature effect. A monoclinic MC structure is observed at room temperature in KNN-based epitaxial films, which is close to but different from the orthorhombic phase in bulk counterparts. Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) at elevated temperatures reveals continuous changes of ferroelectric domains in KNN films during heating and cooling cycles between room temperature and 190 °C. A distinct change in domain morphology is observed upon heating to 110 °C, accompanied by a clear variation of dielectric permittivity suggesting a thermotropic phase transition, which is revealed to belong to a MC-MA phase transition on the basis of structural and PFM analysis on local ferroelectric and piezoelectric behaviors. Enhanced piezoelectric response at the thermotropic phase boundary is observed, which is attributed to active domains and/or nanodomains formed across the boundary. Domain engineering by utilizing the phase transition should be important and effective in KNN-based films not only for property enhancement but also for its textured ceramics.