Microscopic piezoelectric behavior of clamped and membrane (001) PMN-30PT thin films
Abstract
Bulk single-crystal relaxor-ferroelectrics, like Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 (PMN-PT), are widely known for their large piezoelectricity. This is attributed to polarization rotation, which is facilitated by the presence of various crystal symmetries for compositions near a morphotropic phase boundary. Relaxor-ferroelectric thin films, which are necessary for low-voltage applications, suffer a reduction in their piezoelectric response due to clamping by the passive substrate. To understand the microscopic behavior of this adverse phenomenon, we employ the AC electric field driven in-operando synchrotron x-ray diffraction on patterned device structures to investigate the piezoelectric domain behavior under an electric field for both a clamped (001) PMN-PT thin film on Si and a (001) PMN-PT membrane released from its substrate. In the clamped film, the substrate inhibits the field-induced rhombohedral (R) to tetragonal (T) phase transition resulting in a reversible R to Monoclinic (M) transition with a reduced longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient d33 < 100 pm/V. Releasing the film from the substrate results in recovery of the R to T transition and results in a d33 > 1000 pm/V. Using diffraction with spatial mapping, we find that lateral constraints imposed by the boundary between the active and inactive materials also inhibit the R to T transition. Phase-field calculations on both clamped and released PMN-PT thin films simulate our experimental findings. Resolving the suppression of thin film piezoelectric response is critical to their application in piezo-driven technologies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 15, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1063/5.0068581
Entities
People
- A. Brewer
- Bo Wang
- Chang-Beom Eom
- Darrell G. Schlom
- Fei Li
- J-W Kim
- J. Frederick
- L. Q. Chen
- M. S. Rzchowski
- P Thompson
- Philip J. Ryan
- S. Lindemann
- T. Mooney
- V. Vaithyanathan
- W. Maeng
- Yongseong Choi
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Army Research Office
- Cornell University
- Division of Materials Research
- Dublin City University
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth
- Office of Naval Research
- Pennsylvania State University
- United States Department of Energy
- University of Liverpool
- University of Wisconsin–Madison