No Arabic abstract
We studied the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties of compressive strained and unstrained BiMnO3 thin films grown by rf-magnetron sputtering. BiMnO3 samples exhibit a 2D cube-on-cube growth mode and a pseudo-cubic struc-ture up to a thickness of 15 nm and of 25 nm when deposited on (001) SrTiO3 and (110) DyScO3, respectively. Above these thicknesses we observe a switching to a 3D island growth and a simultaneous structural change to a monoclinic structure characterized by a (00l) orientation of the monoclinic unit cell. While ferromagnetism is observed below Tc = 100 K for all samples, signatures of room temperature ferroelectricity were found only in the pseudo-cubic ultra-thin films, indicating a correlation between electronic and structural orders.
We performed factor-group analysis of all phonons in possible monoclinic C2/c and C2 structures of BiMnO3 and compared it with our experimental infrared and Raman spectra. We conclude that the crystal structure is centrosymmetric C2/c in the whole investigated temperature range from 10 to 550 K, therefore BiMnO3 cannot be ferroelectric. We revealed a dielectric relaxation in THz spectra above the structural phase transition taking place at T_C1=475 K giving evidence in strong lattice anharmonicity and a large dynamical disorder of Bi cations above T_C1. Step-like dielectric anomaly observed at T_C1 in THz permittivity reminds antiferroelectric phase transition. Nevertheless, the low-temperature dielectric studies did not reveal any antiferroelectric or ferroelectric hysteresis loop. Our experimental results support theoretical paper of P. Baettig et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 129, 9854 (2007)) claiming that BiMnO3 is not multiferroic, but only antipolar ferromagnet.
Epitaxial orthorhombic Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) films on La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) electrodes show robust ferroelectricity, with high polarization, endurance and retention. However, no similar results have been achieved using other perovskite electrodes so far. Here, LSMO and other perovskite electrodes are compared. A small amount of orthorhombic phase and low polarization is found in HZO films grown on La-doped BaSnO3 and Nb-doped SrTiO3, while null amounts of orthorhombic phase and polarization are detected in films on LaNiO3 and SrRuO3. The critical effect of the electrode on the stabilized phases is not consequence of differences in the electrode lattice parameter. The interface is critical, and engineering the HZO bottom interface on just a few monolayers of LSMO permits the stabilization of the orthorhombic phase. Furthermore, while the specific divalent ion (Sr or Ca) in the manganite is not relevant, reducing the La content causes a severe reduction of the amount of orthorhombic phase and the ferroelectric polarization in the HZO film.
Epitaxial thin films of multiferroic perovskite BiMnO3 were synthesized on SrTiO3 substrates, and orbital ordering and magnetic properties of the thin films were investigated. The ordering of the Mn^{3+} e_g orbitals at a wave vector (1/4 1/4 1/4) was detected by Mn K-edge resonant x-ray scattering. This peculiar orbital order inherently contains magnetic frustration. While bulk BiMnO3 is known to exhibit simple ferromagnetism, the frustration enhanced by in-plane compressive strains in the films brings about cluster-glass-like properties.
Ferroelectric HfO2-based materials hold great potential for widespread integration of ferroelectricity into modern electronics due to their robust ferroelectric properties at the nanoscale and compatibility with the existing Si technology. Earlier work indicated that the nanometer crystal grain size was crucial for stabilization of the ferroelectric phase of hafnia. This constraint caused high density of unavoidable structural defects of the HfO2-based ferroelectrics, obscuring the intrinsic ferroelectricity inherited from the crystal space group of bulk HfO2. Here, we demonstrate the intrinsic ferroelectricity in Y-doped HfO2 films of high crystallinity. Contrary to the common expectation, we show that in the 5% Y-doped HfO2 epitaxial thin films, high crystallinity enhances the spontaneous polarization up to a record-high 50 {mu}C/cm2 value at room temperature. The high spontaneous polarization persists at reduced temperature, with polarization values consistent with our theoretical predictions, indicating the dominant contribution from the intrinsic ferroelectricity. The crystal structure of these films reveals the Pca21 orthorhombic phase with a small rhombohedral distortion, underlining the role of the anisotropic stress and strain. These results open a pathway to controlling the intrinsic ferroelectricity in the HfO2-based materials and optimizing their performance in applications.
Ferroelectricity at room temperature has been demonstrated in nanometer-thin quasi 2D croconic acid thin films, by the polarization hysteresis loop measurements in macroscopic capacitor geometry, along with observation and manipulation of the nanoscale domain structure by piezoresponse force microscopy. The fabrication of continuous thin films of the hydrogen-bonded croconic acid was achieved by the suppression of the thermal decomposition using low evaporation temperatures in high vacuum, combined with growth conditions far from thermal equilibrium. For nominal coverages >=20 nm, quasi 2D and polycrystalline films, with an average grain size of 50-100 nm and 3.5 nm roughness, can be obtained. Spontaneous ferroelectric domain structures of the thin films have been observed and appear to correlate with the grain patterns. The application of this solvent-free growth protocol may be a key to the development of flexible organic ferroelectric thin films for electronic applications.