Size Effect of Ferroelectric Thin Films - Limit of Size

Abstract

Ferroelectric materials constitute as key materials for data storage applications. However, the dependence of their physical properties (such as dielectric constant) on the effect of size may limit their main applications in portable devices. This present work underlines experimentally the drop in the average dielectric constant of PZT used in thin films below 50nm thick. Linear thermo mechanics considerations show that shear stresses occurring at the interface between the functional material and the substrate may overload the functional material and render its ferroelectric properties to diminish. New way of investigation using material patterning is hence proposed in order to eradicate the limit of size encountered experimentally.