Tunable Microwave Conductance of Nanodomains in Ferroelectric PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 Thin Film

Stuart R. Burns; Alexander Tselev; Anton V. Ievlev; Joshua C. Agar; Lane W. Martin; Sergei V. Kalinin; Daniel Sando; Petro Maksymovych

doi:10.1002/aelm.202100952

Tunable Microwave Conductance of Nanodomains in Ferroelectric PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃ Thin Film

Stuart R. Burns, Alexander Tselev, Anton V. Ievlev, Joshua C. Agar, Lane W. Martin, Sergei V. Kalinin, Daniel Sando, Petro Maksymovych

Functional Atomic Force Microscopy Group

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ferroelectric materials exhibit spontaneous polarization that can be switched by electric field. Beyond traditional applications as nonvolatile capacitive elements, the interplay between polarization and electronic transport in ferroelectric thin films has enabled a path to neuromorphic device applications involving resistive switching. A fundamental challenge, however, is that finite electronic conductivity may introduce considerable power dissipation and perhaps destabilize ferroelectricity itself. Here, tunable microwave frequency electronic response of domain walls injected into ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃) on the level of a single nanodomain is revealed. Tunable microwave response is detected through first-order reversal curve spectroscopy combined with scanning microwave impedance microscopy measurements taken near 3 GHz. Contributions of film interfaces to the measured AC conduction through subtractive milling, where the film exhibited improved conduction properties after removal of surface layers, are investigated. Using statistical analysis and finite element modeling, we inferred that the mechanism of tunable microwave conductance is the variable area of the domain wall in the switching volume. These observations open the possibilities for ferroelectric memristors or volatile resistive switches, localized to several tens of nanometers and operating according to well-defined dynamics under an applied field.

Original language	English
Article number	2100952
Journal	Advanced Electronic Materials
Volume	8
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202100952
State	Published - Mar 2022

Funding

Experiments and modelling have been carried out at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. This research was supported in part by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Future Low‐Energy Electronics Technologies (Project No. CE170100039) and funded by the Australian Government. This project was supported in part by an appointment to the Science Education and Workforce Development Programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, administered by ORISE through the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. S.R.B. acknowledges funding in part from the UNSW Science Ph.D. Writing Scholarship and current funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. In part (A.T.), this work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO‐Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020 and UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC and when appropriate cofinanced by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. J.C.A. acknowledges primary support from the National Science Foundation under grant TRIPODS + X: RES‐1839234. L.W.M. acknowledges support of the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR‐1708615. The authors would like to thank Liam Collins and Rama Vasudevan for assistance with the experimental set‐up. Experiments and modelling have been carried out at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. This research was supported in part by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (Project No. CE170100039) and funded by the Australian Government. This project was supported in part by an appointment to the Science Education and Workforce Development Programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, administered by ORISE through the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. S.R.B. acknowledges funding in part from the UNSW Science Ph.D. Writing Scholarship and current funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. In part (A.T.), this work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020 and UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC and when appropriate cofinanced by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. J.C.A. acknowledges primary support from the National Science Foundation under grant TRIPODS + X: RES-1839234. L.W.M. acknowledges support of the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-1708615. The authors would like to thank Liam Collins and Rama Vasudevan for assistance with the experimental set-up.

Funders	Funder number
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Future Low‐Energy Electronics Technologies	CE170100039
National Science Foundation	RES‐1839234, DMR‐1708615
Office of Science
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
Australian Government
University of New South Wales
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
European Regional Development Fund
Canada First Research Excellence Fund	UIDP/50011/2020, UIDB/50011/2020

Keywords

domain wall conductance
lead zirconate titanate
scanning microwave impedance microscopy
scanning probe microscopy
thin film

Access to Document

10.1002/aelm.202100952

Cite this

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title = "Tunable Microwave Conductance of Nanodomains in Ferroelectric PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 Thin Film",

abstract = "Ferroelectric materials exhibit spontaneous polarization that can be switched by electric field. Beyond traditional applications as nonvolatile capacitive elements, the interplay between polarization and electronic transport in ferroelectric thin films has enabled a path to neuromorphic device applications involving resistive switching. A fundamental challenge, however, is that finite electronic conductivity may introduce considerable power dissipation and perhaps destabilize ferroelectricity itself. Here, tunable microwave frequency electronic response of domain walls injected into ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3) on the level of a single nanodomain is revealed. Tunable microwave response is detected through first-order reversal curve spectroscopy combined with scanning microwave impedance microscopy measurements taken near 3 GHz. Contributions of film interfaces to the measured AC conduction through subtractive milling, where the film exhibited improved conduction properties after removal of surface layers, are investigated. Using statistical analysis and finite element modeling, we inferred that the mechanism of tunable microwave conductance is the variable area of the domain wall in the switching volume. These observations open the possibilities for ferroelectric memristors or volatile resistive switches, localized to several tens of nanometers and operating according to well-defined dynamics under an applied field.",

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N2 - Ferroelectric materials exhibit spontaneous polarization that can be switched by electric field. Beyond traditional applications as nonvolatile capacitive elements, the interplay between polarization and electronic transport in ferroelectric thin films has enabled a path to neuromorphic device applications involving resistive switching. A fundamental challenge, however, is that finite electronic conductivity may introduce considerable power dissipation and perhaps destabilize ferroelectricity itself. Here, tunable microwave frequency electronic response of domain walls injected into ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3) on the level of a single nanodomain is revealed. Tunable microwave response is detected through first-order reversal curve spectroscopy combined with scanning microwave impedance microscopy measurements taken near 3 GHz. Contributions of film interfaces to the measured AC conduction through subtractive milling, where the film exhibited improved conduction properties after removal of surface layers, are investigated. Using statistical analysis and finite element modeling, we inferred that the mechanism of tunable microwave conductance is the variable area of the domain wall in the switching volume. These observations open the possibilities for ferroelectric memristors or volatile resistive switches, localized to several tens of nanometers and operating according to well-defined dynamics under an applied field.

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