STUDY OF STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF OXIDE ELECTRODE MATERIALS(FE3O4, AZO, SRO) AND THEIR DEVICE APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Ferroelectric thin film heterostructures have attracted considerable attention in the last decade due to their potential applications in piezoelectric sensors, actuators, power generators and non-volatile memory devices. Most of these devices have adopted basic capacitor-like structure that consists of a ferroelectric active layer sandwiched between two metal/metal oxide electrodes. The right selection of electrode material for this type of structures may modify and enhance the performance of a device, as the electrode/barrier layer interfaces can significantly influence its macroscopic properties. This work focused on the structural, electric, magnetic and optical properties of three potential electrode materials: Al-doped ZnO, Fe3O4 and SrRuO3. Engineering techniques, such as anisotropy modulation, phase transition and doping effect were studied in order to improve the performance of the potential electrodes and/or add up new functionalities to a system. As a final step, the behavior of these oxides when integrated in PZT-based heterostructures (RRAMs) as electrode components was investigated.