This paper reviews deposition, integration, and device fabrication of ferroelectric PbZrxTi1−xO3 (PZT) films for applications in microelectromechanical systems. As examples, a piezoelectric ultrasonic micromotor and pyroelectric infrared detector array are presented. A summary of the published data on the piezoelectric properties of PZT thin films is given. The figures of merit for various appl...

We examine the application of short-circuit electrical boundary conditions in density-functional theory calculations of ferroelectric thin films. Modeling PbTiO3 films with metallic electrodes, we demonstrate that under periodic boundary conditions of supercells, short-circuit conditions for the electrodes are equivalently satisfied in two repeated slab geometries: a PbTiO3/metal superlattice g...

The development of ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM) technology with control of grain boundaries would result in a breakthrough for new nonvolatile memory devices. The excellent piezoelectric and electrical properties of bulk ferroelectrics are degraded when the ferroelectric is processed into thin films because the grain boundaries then form randomly. Controlling the nature of nucleat...

Pulsed laser deposition method was employed to grow MgO thin films with preferred orientation on bare Si(100) and SiO2/Si(100) substrates. The orientation of MgO thin films was systematically investigated by varying deposition parameters. XRD analysis showed that the preferred orientation of MgO thin films would change from (111) to (100) when laser fluence decreased and oxygen pressure increas...

Title of Document: COMPLEX METAL OXIDE THIN FILM GROWTH BY METALORGANIC CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION Seung-Yeul Yang, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Directed By: Professor Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Department of Materials Science and Engineering The phenomenon of ferroelectricity recently attracted great attention with the successful advances in the development of thin-film fabrication. This development ena...

Ferroelectric materials are characterized by a spontaneous polarization, which can be reoriented with an applied electric field. The switching between polarized domains is mediated by nanoscale defects. Understanding the role of defects in ferroelectric switching is critical for practical applications such as non-volatile memories. This is especially the case for ferroelectric nanostructures an...

The hysteresis properties of ferroelectric thin films open an elegant and promising way to build nonvolatile memory cells. Our basic goal is to set up a tool which is able to reproduce the macroscopic behavior of the devices by calculating current, voltage and charge at the contacts correctly. Our tool, MINIMOS-NT, provides a rigorous approach to describe the static hysteresis properties of fer...

Ferroelectric domain patterning with an electron beam is demonstrated. Polarization of lead zirconate titanate thin films is shown to be reoriented in both positive and negative directions using piezoresponse force and scanning surface potential microscopy. Reorientation of the ferroelectric domains is a response to the electric field generated by an imbalance of electron emission and trapping ...

Nonvolatile ferroelectric random-access memory uses ferroelectric thin films to save a polar state written by an electric field that is retained when the field is removed. After switching, the high energy of the domain walls separating regions of unlike polarization can drive backswitching resulting in a loss of switched domain volume, or in the case of very small domains, complete retention loss.

Title of Dissertation: STUDIES OF NEAR-FIELD NONLINEAR OPTICAL IMAGING OF THIN FILMS AND TRANSIENT PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY IN CONJUGATED POLYMERS Hongye Liang, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Directed By: Professor Chi Hsiang Lee Professor Christopher Davis Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering The dissertation is composed of two parts: 1) near-field nonlinear optical studies of ferroelectric ...