This detailed assessment called into question the previous identification of
ferroelectric materials based solely on scanning probe microscopy (SPM).
Common examples
of ferroelectric materials include transit cards and, more recently, memory chips.
Scientists have imaged and manipulated
ferroelectric properties using a particular type of scanning probe microscopy called piezo - response force microscopy (PFM).
Resume: Extensive research is ongoing into the sources of dielectric loss
in ferroelectric materials at low frequencies, and several mechanisms were identified.
Non-volatile memory based on
ferroelectric tunnel junctions is a promising development that has not yet been fully implemented.
Memory based
on ferroelectric tunnel junctions will be able to save power, which is especially important for portable devices that run on batteries.
The impedance peaks
at ferroelectric domain walls have been attributed to the excitation of the domain wall translation mode, that leads to the domain wall oscillations in the periodic potential of the lattice.
«Since the structures of this material are compatible with silicon technology, we can expect that new non-volatile memory devices
with ferroelectric polycrystalline layers of hafnium oxide will be able to be built directly onto silicon in the near future,» says the corresponding author of the study and head of the Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Nanoelectronics, Andrei Zenkevich.
In contrast, electronic EAPs (such
as ferroelectric polymers, electrets, dielectric elastomers and electrostrictive graft elastomers) are driven by electric fields.
Funakubo's team are hopeful that their new thin
film ferroelectric material will have applications in novel random - access memory and transistors, along with quantum computing.
Ferroelectric displays have fewer electronic components than ordinary flat screens, which in theory simplifies their production.
Professor Martijn Kemerink of Linköping University has worked with colleagues in Spain and the Netherlands to develop the first material with conductivity properties that can be switched on and off
using ferroelectric polarisation.
The new approach allows reliable study of
new ferroelectric materials or ferroelectricity induced by external forces.
In his work Pan has pioneered the development and applications of advanced TEM techniques and the discovery of novel phenomena and properties of engineered materials, which range
from ferroelectrics and multiferroics to nanocatalysts and energy materials.
Key advantages of
ferroelectrics include their reversible polarization in response to low - power electric fields, and their ability to hold their polarized state without the need for continuous power.
Resume: GeTe, a well -
known ferroelectric and thermoelectric material, undergoes a structural phase transition from a rhombohedral to the rocksalt structure at ~ 600 - 700 K.
This allowed them to create what they call a «microstructured
ferroelectric skin» (expanded in the figure below).
But engineers have not yet been able to take advantage of this property in most computers because of the difficulties in directly
integrating ferroelectric substances with silicon.
Unfortunately, FRAM does not offer as much storage space: dipoles in small
ferroelectric bits do not all line up easily.
These enhanced and combined functional responses in thin film form present an opportunity to create and implement thin film devices that actively couple the magnetic and
ferroelectric order parameters.
Ferroelectric polymers also can cool, but the electric field needed to induce cooling is above the safety limit for humans.
Scientists have successfully
paired ferroelectric and ferrimagnetic materials so that their alignment can be controlled with a small electric field at near room temperatures, an achievement that could open doors to ultra low - power microprocessors, storage devices and next - generation electronics.
Furthermore,
if ferroelectric tunnel junctions based on hafnium oxide are developed, it can be hoped that they will be able to demonstrate memristor properties.
Canon is hoping to leapfrog the competition and produce flat TVs with wide, high - definition screens using a technology called
ferroelectric LCD.
Experiments by Alejandro Heredia of the University of Aveiro in Portugal and colleagues show that
ferroelectric polarity flipping induced by a tiny electrode operates on an area of glycine crystal less than 100 nanometers across.
Other new evidence shows that cells forming the inner wall of a pig's aorta are
also ferroelectric, the first sign of ferroelectricity in mammalian tissue.
On multiferroics and their possible application, Professor O'Brien said: «The Holy Grail in this field is the combination of both magnetic and
ferroelectric elements at room temperature with a sufficient magnitude of interaction.»
«This is one of the most important differences between previous technology that has already been commercialized and this emergent
ferroelectric technology,» said Alexei Gruverman, a Charles Bessey Professor of physics who co-authored the study.
I am
studying ferroelectric crystalline solids through the diffraction of x-rays and neutrons in the CNRS Structure, Properties and Modelisation of Solids Laboratory at l'Ecole Centrale of Paris.
«New material for digital memories of the future:
Ferroelectric self - assembled molecular materials.»
Ferroelectric power affects a number of technologies, including cloud computing, sensing devices, solar energy systems and nanoelectronics.
This finding calls into question previously
identified ferroelectric materials based only on their hysteretic responses.
Current ferroelectric materials are highly valued for their thermal and chemical stability and rapid electro - mechanical responses, but creating a material that is scalable down to the tiny sizes needed for technologies like silicon - based semiconductors (Si - based CMOS) has proven challenging.
«One of the drivers of this research is trying to
find ferroelectric materials that perform on a par with lead - based compounds but that don't have lead in them,» says Zeches.
In these cards, memory is provided
by ferroelectric materials, substances that hold an electric state without additional power.
Their material is also the
first ferroelectric material compatible with silicon - based semiconductors (Si - based CMOS).
In contrast to many
existing ferroelectric materials, the new thin - film exhibits compatibility with Si - based CMOS and is robust in miniature forms.
Funakubo's team wanted to pinpoint the material's spontaneous polarization and the Curie temperature (the point above which a material stops being
ferroelectric due crystal re-structuring).