Polycrystalline solutions of 0.6(Bi0.9La0.1)FeO3-0.4Pb(Ti1-xMnx)O3(BLF-PTM, x=0 and 0.01)have been fabricated by the so-gel process combined with a solid state reaction method. BLF-PTM exhibits the nonlinear dielectric and piezoelectric responses under applied fields. Rayleigh law has been used to evaluate the irreversible contribution of the domain walls movement to the nonlinear dielectric response. Rayleigh analysis reveals that a mechanism with no associated loss exists in the BLF-PTM of x=0.01. The real part piezoelectric coefficient of BLF-PTM linearly increases with increasing the electric fields. The dielectric and piezoelectric nonlinear coefficient of 0.17×10-3 m/V and 0.897 ×10-17 m2/V2 respectively are obtained for BLF-PTM of x=0.01,which are smaller than those of 0.22×10-3 m/V and 1.19 ×10-17 m2/V2 for BLF-PTM of x=0. Our results indicate that Mn doping increase the intrinsic piezoelectric properties of BLF-PTM reducing the extrinsic contributions to piezoelectric responses.

Using ab-initio calculations and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we demonstrate that the deposition geometries of palladium are strongly dependent on the polarization direction of the LiNbO3 substrate. Different stoichiometries and atomic structures of the positively and the negatively polarized substrates cause substantially different bonding configurations of palladium and energy barriers for the movement of Pd clusters. Our simulations predict that palladium atoms form bulky clusters on the positive surface, while they are deposited in a dispersed or planar manner on the negative surface at moderate temperature. We suggest that Inoue and coworkers’ observation [J. Phys. Chem.88, 1148 (1984)] that the catalytic activity of palladium depends on polarization direction of LiNbO3 substrate is, at least in part, due to differences in the geometric structures of palladium and the LiNbO3 surface.

The electrical conduction mechanism contributing to the leakage current at different field regions has been studied in this work. The current-voltage (I-V) measurement of TiN/HfO2/SiO2/P-Si nMOS capacitor has been taken for two different interfacial layer (SiO2) growth conditions such as in situ steam grown (ISSG) and chemical processes. It is observed that Poole-Frenkel mechanism is the dominant conduction mechanism in high field region whereas Ohmic conduction is dominant in the low field region. Also it is seen that the gate leakage current is reduced for the devices having chemically grown interfacial layer compared to that of ISSG devices. Both trap energy level (ϕt) and activation energy (Ea) increase in the chemically grown interfacial layer devices for the Poole-Frenkel and Ohmic conduction mechanisms respectively in comparison to ISSG devices. Trap energy level (ϕt) of ~ 0.2 eV, obtained from Poole-Frenkel mechanism indicates that the doubly ionized oxygen vacancies (V2-) are the active defects and are contributing to the leakage current in these devices.

We have investigated microstructures in both the antiferroelectric (AFE) and relaxor states of Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3 (PIN) with the perovskite structure by a transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electron diffraction (ED) experiments revealed that the AFE state is characterized as the modulated structure with the modulation vector of q=1/4 1/4 0. High-resolution TEM images clearly show the coexistence of two types of domains consisting of the modulated and the nonmodulated structures with the 100 ∼ 200 nm size. On the other hand, in the relaxor state there appear two types of diffuse scatterings in the ED patterns. One is diffuse spots at the 1/2 1/2 0-type reciprocal positions and the other is diffuse streaks elongating along the <110> direction around the fundamental spots. The real-space TEM images clearly demonstrate the presence of nanodomains with the average size of ∼ 5 nm. These nanodomains in the relaxor state should be responsible for the characteristic dielectric properties.

High dielectric tunability, low dielectric loss tangent and appropriate level of dielectric constant are the basic requirements for applications as electrically tunable dielectric microwave devices. In our experiments, the SrTiO3 green compacts made of the powder mixtures with various particle sizes were infiltrated with a BaTiO3 precursor solution and sintered at different temperatures between 1280 and 1350 ºC for 2 hours and 1350 ºC for 6 hours. The sintering, microstructural and dielectric properties were investigated. Results showed that the relative density of SrTiO3 ceramics could reached 93% when sintered at 1280 ºC for 2 hours. When sintered for 6 hours at 1350 °C, the room temperature dielectric constant of SrTiO3 reaches 900 at a frequency of 1MHz. It has only weak temperature dependence between 100 and 500K. The reason of the low sintering temperature for the dense SrTiO3 ceramics and the effects of sintering scheme on the dielectric properties from 100 K to 500 K are discussed in this paper.

The crystallinity, electrical, and optical properties of the ferroelectric/fluorescent oxide structures using sol-gel-derived (Ba0.6Sr0.4)TiO3 (BST) and (Sr0.8Eu0.2)Bi2.2Ta2O9 (Eu-SBT) grown on STO(110) single crystal substrates were introduced for the first time. In the present structures, the SBT films partly included a (116)-oriented Eu-SBT crystallite. The polarization vs. voltage characteristics of the BST/Eu-SBT structures showed the hysteresis loop caused by spontaneous polarization reversal, and then several emission peaks from Eu3+ ion were observed in a photoluminescence spectrum of a present BST/Eu-SBT structure.

(1-x)K0.5Na0.5NbO3-x(0.97BiScO3-0.03BiCoO3) (KNN-xBSC) piezoelectric ceramics were prepared by the conventional solid-state method, and effects of the BSC addition on the phase structure, relaxor behavior, and electrical properties of KNN ceramics were systematically investigated. The rhombohedral to orthorhombic phase transition around room temperature was identified for the KNN-xBSC ceramics in the composition range of 0.015≤ x ≤0.0175, and improved electrical properties (d33∼205 pC/N, kp∼0.43, εr∼1315, and tan δ∼0.054) were observed for the ceramic with x=0.015 because of the involvement of such a phase transition at room temperature. Moreover, a relaxor ferroelectric behavior is demonstrated for these KNN-xBSC ceramics because of a more complex occupation of A and B sites in the ABO3 perovskite structure, together with a weak ferromagnetic order at room temperature.

We have investigated characteristic ferroelectric and structural antiphase domain structures in single crystals of hexagonal RMnO3 (R=Y, Ho, Lu, and Yb) by obtaining various electron diffraction patterns, dark-filed images and high-resolution lattice images. In the ferroelectric phase of RMnO3 characteristic domain structures consisting of six ferroelectric and structural antiphase domains, which can be identified as the “cloverleaf” pattern, is found in the (110) plane, in addition to the (001) plane, and are inherent to the ferroelectric phase of hexagonal RMnO3. In domain configuration with the cloverleaf pattern in the (110) plane, the structural antiphase boundaries are inclined to be parallel to the [001] direction.

Highly stable, organic-based barium titanate (BaTiO3) sols were developed by the low cost and straightforward “organosol”-precipitation and auto-combustion process of amorphous organic precursors. BaTiO3/CoFe2O4 nanocomposites with core/shell structures embedded in a BaTiO3 matrix were also obtained using this process. The particles are systematically characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses (TGA/DTA), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and by laser granulometry for particle size distribution determination.

Epitaixal Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (BST) thin films were grown on SrTiO3 (STO) and DyScO3 substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering system using three-step method which involves a relatively low-temperature (573-773 K) growth of a BST interlayer sandwiched between two BST layers deposited at a high substrate temperature of 1068 K. X-ray diffraction measurement showed different strains on the films with interlayers grown at different temperatures. Post-growth thermal treatment reduced film strain to a great extent (the film strain of a tri-layer film with a 773 K grown interlayer is only -0.001). Comparing with the control films grown at high temperature, three-step technique improved the dielectric properties, especially increased dielectric constant by 60% for BST/STO and 31% for BST/DyScO3, respectively. High dielectric constant of 1631.4 and its tuning of 36.7% were achieved on the BST/STO with an interlayer grown on 773 K.

A transverse (d 33) mode piezoelectric cantilever was fabricated for energy harvesting. Various dimensions of interdigital electrodes (IDE) were deposited on a piezoelectric layer to examine the effects of electrode design on the performance of energy harvesters. Modeling was performed to calculate the output power of the devices. The estimation was based on Roundy’s analytical modeling derived for a d 31 mode piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH). In order to apply the Roundy’s model to d 33 mode PEH, the IDE configuration was converted to the area of top and bottom electrodes (TBE). The power conversion in d 33 mode PEH was commonly estimated by the product of piezoelectric layer’s thickness and finger electrode’s length. In addition, the spacing between fingers was regarded as gap between top and bottom electrodes. However, the output power in a transverse mode PEH increases continuously with the increase of finger spacing, which does not correspond to experimental results. In this research, the dimension of IDE was converted to that of TBE using conformal mapping, and variation of power of PEH was remodeled. The modified model suggests that the maximum power in a transverse mode PEH is obtained when the finger spacing is identical with effective finger spacing. The output power then decreases when finger spacing is larger than effective finger spacing. The decrease of efficiency may result from insufficient degree of poling and increased charged defect with increasing finger spacing.

Single-phase samples of YCrxFe1−xO3 were synthesized by a mechanochemical method. X-ray diffraction data show linear reduction in the lattice parameters of YCrxFe1−xO3 perovskites with the Cr content, indicating that Cr ions substitute for Fe ions to form a solid solution. Magnetic measurements show hysteresis loops at 5K. The substitution of Cr for Fe enhances the magnetization for up to x=0.33 Cr doping level. For higher doping levels, 0.33<x<1, the system behaves as a frustrated system. At x=1, YCrO3 behaves as a week ferromagnet with TN ~140 K. The chloride salt based machenochemical method offers simple synthesis route for the synthesis of pure multiferroic compounds.

Perfectly (111)-oriented rhombohedral Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 [PZT] films were successfully grown on (111) CaF2 substrates. These films have the polar-axis perpendicular to the substrate surface without non-180o domains. Well saturated polarization (P) –electric field (E) hysteresis loops were observed at various frequencies and temperatures. Temperature dependence of the saturation polarization (Psat.) was in good agreement with the estimated one by Haun et al. using phenomenological approach but did not strongly depend on the measured frequencies. On the other hand, the coercive field (Ec) increased with decreasing temperature and with increasing the measurement frequency.

Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 ceramics were fabricated by mixed-oxide route. The compositions along morphotropic phase boundary were investigated. Dielectric properties and piezoelectric coefficient were measured. The maximum relative permittivity is 33600 found in the (PIN-PT)x(PMN-PT)1-x ceramics with x = 0.1 at 167 °C. When increasing the amount of Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3, the piezoelectric coefficient of the ceramics decreases but the phase transition temperature increases. The selected-area electron diffraction patterns show the pseudo-cubic perovskite symmetry. Diffuse scattering is found in the diffraction pattern taken at higher order zone axis. Transmission electron microscopy study shows that the morphology of ferroelectric/ferroelastic domains is neither tetragonal nor rhombohedral configuration.

In this work high quality ferroelectric PZT films have been prepared in-situ by hot RF magnetron sputtering. 200 mm wafer were coated with PZT films of 1 μm and 2 μm thickness at sputter rates of 45 nm/min in a high volume production sputtering tool. The films were grown on oxidized Si substrates prepared either with sputtered Ti/TiO2/Pt, sputtered Ti/TiO2/Pt/TiO2 or evaporated Ti/Pt bottom electrodes at substrate holder temperatures in the range from 550 °C to 700 °C. At these temperatures, the material nucleates in the requisite piezoelectric perovskite phase without need of an additional post annealing treatment.

The films were investigated with respect to their chemical composition and their crystallographic, piezoelectric and dielectric properties. At an intermediate chuck temperature of 600 °C the PZT thin films were characterized by a minimum volume fraction of secondary nonpiezoelectric phases. A Zr/(Zr+Ti) ratio of 0.53 has been achieved matching the morphotropic phase boundary. By improving the deposition process and poling procedure, a notable high e31,f coefficient of -17.3 C/m2 has been obtained. The corresponding longitudinal piezoelectric constant was determined to have an effective longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient d33,f of 160 pm/V.