title: Giant Dielectric Permittivity in Ferroelectric Thin Films: Domain Wall Ping Pong.
abstract: The dielectric permittivity in ferroelectric thin films is generally orders of magnitude smaller than in their bulk. Here, we discover a way of increasing dielectric constants in ferroelectric thin films by ca. 500% by synchronizing the pulsed switching fields with the intrinsic switching time (nucleation of domain plus forward growth from cathode to anode). In a 170-nm lead zirconate titanate thin film with an average grain size of 850 nm this produces a dielectric constant of 8200 with the maximum nucleus density of 3.8 μm(-2), which is one to three orders of magnitude higher than in other dielectric thin films. This permits smaller capacitors in memory devices and is a step forward in making ferroelectric domain-engineered nano-electronics.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of ASIC &System, School of Microelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quan Jiang
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200083, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jian Meng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of ASIC &System, School of Microelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Inter-university Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hyuk Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Inter-university Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea.
authors.forename: Sijung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Inter-university Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and School of Physics, St. Andrews Univ., St. Andrews, U.K. KY16 9ST.
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Inter-university Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea.
authors.forename: Cheol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Seong Hwang