Possible absence of critical thickness and size effect in ultrathin perovskite ferroelectric films
10.1038/ncomms15549
Crossref journal-article
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Nature Communications (297)
Abstract

AbstractAlthough the size effect in ferroelectric thin films has been known for long time, the underlying mechanism is not yet fully understood and whether or not there is a critical thickness below which the ferroelectricity vanishes is still under debate. Here, we directly measure the thickness-dependent polarization in ultrathin PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 films via quantitative annular bright field imaging. We find that the polarization is significantly suppressed for films <10-unit cells thick (∼4 nm). However, approximately the polarization never vanishes. The residual polarization is ∼16 μCcm−2 (∼17%) at 1.5-unit cells (∼0.6 nm) thick film on bare SrTiO3 and ∼22 μCcm−2 at 2-unit cells thick film on SrTiO3 with SrRuO3 electrode. The residual polarization in these ultrathin films is mainly attributed to the robust covalent Pb–O bond. Our atomic study provides new insights into mechanistic understanding of nanoscale ferroelectricity and the size effects.

Bibliography

Gao, P., Zhang, Z., Li, M., Ishikawa, R., Feng, B., Liu, H.-J., Huang, Y.-L., Shibata, N., Ma, X., Chen, S., Zhang, J., Liu, K., Wang, E.-G., Yu, D., Liao, L., Chu, Y.-H., & Ikuhara, Y. (2017). Possible absence of critical thickness and size effect in ultrathin perovskite ferroelectric films. Nature Communications, 8(1).

Authors 17
  1. Peng Gao (first)
  2. Zhangyuan Zhang (additional)
  3. Mingqiang Li (additional)
  4. Ryo Ishikawa (additional)
  5. Bin Feng (additional)
  6. Heng-Jui Liu (additional)
  7. Yen-Lin Huang (additional)
  8. Naoya Shibata (additional)
  9. Xiumei Ma (additional)
  10. Shulin Chen (additional)
  11. Jingmin Zhang (additional)
  12. Kaihui Liu (additional)
  13. En-Ge Wang (additional)
  14. Dapeng Yu (additional)
  15. Lei Liao (additional)
  16. Ying-Hao Chu (additional)
  17. Yuichi Ikuhara (additional)
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Dates
Type When
Created 8 years, 2 months ago (June 6, 2017, 7:27 a.m.)
Deposited 2 years, 7 months ago (Dec. 22, 2022, 8:04 p.m.)
Indexed 2 weeks ago (Aug. 6, 2025, 8:06 a.m.)
Issued 8 years, 2 months ago (June 6, 2017)
Published 8 years, 2 months ago (June 6, 2017)
Published Online 8 years, 2 months ago (June 6, 2017)
Funders 0

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@article{Gao_2017, title={Possible absence of critical thickness and size effect in ultrathin perovskite ferroelectric films}, volume={8}, ISSN={2041-1723}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15549}, DOI={10.1038/ncomms15549}, number={1}, journal={Nature Communications}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Gao, Peng and Zhang, Zhangyuan and Li, Mingqiang and Ishikawa, Ryo and Feng, Bin and Liu, Heng-Jui and Huang, Yen-Lin and Shibata, Naoya and Ma, Xiumei and Chen, Shulin and Zhang, Jingmin and Liu, Kaihui and Wang, En-Ge and Yu, Dapeng and Liao, Lei and Chu, Ying-Hao and Ikuhara, Yuichi}, year={2017}, month=jun }