Unusual Behavior of the Ferroelectric Polarization in PbTiO3/SrTiO3 Superlattices

M. Dawber, C. Lichtensteiger, M. Cantoni, M. Veithen, P. Ghosez, K. Johnston, K. M. Rabe, and J.-M. Triscone
Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 177601 – Published 17 October 2005

Abstract

Artificial PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices were constructed using off-axis rf magnetron sputtering. X-ray diffraction and piezoelectric atomic force microscopy were used to study the evolution of the ferroelectric polarization as the ratio of PbTiO3 to SrTiO3 was changed. For PbTiO3 layer thicknesses larger than the 3-unit cell SrTiO3 thickness used in the structure, the polarization is found to be reduced as the PbTiO3 thickness is decreased. This observation confirms the primary role of the depolarization field in the polarization reduction in thin films. For the samples with ratios of PbTiO3 to SrTiO3 of less than one, a surprising recovery of ferroelectricity that cannot be explained by electrostatic considerations was observed.

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  • Received 17 June 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.177601

©2005 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. Dawber1, C. Lichtensteiger1, M. Cantoni2, M. Veithen3, P. Ghosez3, K. Johnston4, K. M. Rabe4, and J.-M. Triscone1

  • 1DPMC, University of Geneva, 24 Quai E.-Ansermet 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland*
  • 2CIME, EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 3Institut de Physique, Université de Liège, Bâtiment B5 Allée du 6 Août, 17 B-4000 Sart Tilman, Belgium
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Rd, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8019, USA

  • *Electronic address: matthew.dawber@physics.unige.ch

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Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 17 — 21 October 2005

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