Recent Advance in Ferroelectric Composites

A special issue of Solids (ISSN 2673-6497).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 8761

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Materials Science, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Interests: ferroelectric materials; thin films; nanocomposites; nanostructures; transmission electron microscopy; environmental sensing; shape memory alloys; networked matter; power electronic materials

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Guest Editor
Institute of Materials Science, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Interests: composite sensors; magneto-plasmonic nanoparticles; chalkogenide thermoelectrics; energy materials, memristive devices; ferroelectric thin films; in operando TEM methods; solid state material analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advances in the field of ferroelectric materials enable the introduction of new technological standards to address today’s societal needs for processing increasing amounts of energy and information. The latest research is dedicated to the materials themselves, thinking of environmentally friendly material compositions and new classes of ferroelectrics, e.g., wurtzite-type ferroelectrics such as AlScN. Their integration into composite structures offers advanced functionalities through the enhancement or coupling of properties, e.g., mechanoelectrical, for many kinds of applications.

This Special Issue aims to collect recent advances achieved in the field of ferroelectric composites and provide a comprehensive overview for all researchers, both new and well-established in the field.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: energy conversion and storage, MEMS, non-volatile memory, and the next generation of power electronic devices.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Niklas Wolff
Prof. Dr. Lorenz Kienle
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • power electronic devices
  • non-volatile memory
  • energy conversion and storage
  • thin films
  • advanced architectures
  • nanostructure characterization
  • coupling in composites
  • simulation-based design

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 10144 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Study of n- and p-Channel FeFETs with Ferroelectric HZO Gate Dielectric
by Paul Jacob, Pooja C. Patil, Shan Deng, Kai Ni, Khushwant Sehra, Mridula Gupta, Manoj Saxena, David MacMahon and Santosh Kurinec
Solids 2023, 4(4), 356-367; https://doi.org/10.3390/solids4040023 - 1 Dec 2023
Viewed by 2395
Abstract
This study investigates the electrical characteristics observed in n-channel and p-channel ferroelectric field effect transistor (FeFET) devices fabricated through a similar process flow with 10 nm of ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO) as the gate dielectric. The n-FeFETs demonstrate a faster complete polarization [...] Read more.
This study investigates the electrical characteristics observed in n-channel and p-channel ferroelectric field effect transistor (FeFET) devices fabricated through a similar process flow with 10 nm of ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide (HZO) as the gate dielectric. The n-FeFETs demonstrate a faster complete polarization switching compared to the p-channel counterparts. Detailed and systematic investigations using TCAD simulations reveal the role of fixed charges and interface traps at the HZO-interfacial layer (HZO/IL) interface in modulating the subthreshold characteristics of the devices. A characteristic crossover point observed in the transfer characteristics of n-channel devices is attributed with the temporary switching between ferroelectric-based operation to charge-based operation, caused by the pinning effect due to the presence of different traps. This experimental study helps understand the role of charge trapping effects in switching characteristics of n- and p-channel ferroelectric FETs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advance in Ferroelectric Composites)
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32 pages, 1169 KiB  
Article
Second-Order Collocation-Based Mixed FEM for Flexoelectric Solids
by Kevin Tannhäuser, Prince Henry Serrao and Sergey Kozinov
Solids 2023, 4(1), 39-70; https://doi.org/10.3390/solids4010004 - 2 Feb 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2281
Abstract
Flexoelectricity is an electromechanical coupling between the electric field and the mechanical strain gradient, as well as between the mechanical strains and the electric field gradient, observed in all dielectric materials, including those with centrosymmetry. Flexoelectricity demands C1-continuity for straightforward numerical [...] Read more.
Flexoelectricity is an electromechanical coupling between the electric field and the mechanical strain gradient, as well as between the mechanical strains and the electric field gradient, observed in all dielectric materials, including those with centrosymmetry. Flexoelectricity demands C1-continuity for straightforward numerical implementation as the governing equations in the gradient theory are fourth-order partial differential equations. In this work, an alternative collocation-based mixed finite element method for direct flexoelectricity is used, for which a newly developed quadratic element with a high capability of capturing gradients is introduced. In the collocation method, mechanical strains and electric field through independently assumed polynomials are collocated with the mechanical strains and electric field derived from the mechanical displacements and electric potential at collocation points inside a finite element. The mechanical strain gradient and electric field are obtained by taking the directional derivative of the independent mechanical strain and electric field gradients. However, an earlier proposed linear element is unable to capture all mechanical strain gradient components and, thus, simulate flexoelectricity correctly. This problem is solved in the present work by using quadratic shape functions for the mechanical displacements and electric potential with fewer degrees of freedom than the traditional mixed finite element method. A Fortran user-element code is developed by the authors: first, for the linear and, after that, for the quadratic element. After verifying the linear element with numerical results from the literature, both linear and quadratic elements’ behaviors are tested for different problems. It is shown that the proposed second-order collocation-based mixed FEM can capture the flexoelectric behavior better compared to the existing linear formulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advance in Ferroelectric Composites)
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Review

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21 pages, 4460 KiB  
Review
Two-Dimensional Ferroelectrics: A Review on Applications and Devices
by Gabriella Maria De Luca and Andrea Rubano
Solids 2024, 5(1), 45-65; https://doi.org/10.3390/solids5010004 - 16 Jan 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3191
Abstract
Over the last few years, research activities have seen two-dimensional (2D) materials become protagonists in the field of nanotechnology. In particular, 2D materials characterized by ferroelectric properties are extremely interesting, as they are better suited for the development of miniaturized and high-performing devices. [...] Read more.
Over the last few years, research activities have seen two-dimensional (2D) materials become protagonists in the field of nanotechnology. In particular, 2D materials characterized by ferroelectric properties are extremely interesting, as they are better suited for the development of miniaturized and high-performing devices. Here, we summarize the recent advances in this field, reviewing the realization of devices based on 2D ferroelectric materials, like FeFET, FTJ, and optoelectronics. The devices are realized with a wide range of material systems, from oxide materials at low dimensions to 2D materials exhibiting van der Waals interactions. We conclude by presenting how these materials could be useful in the field of devices based on magnons or surface acoustic waves. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advance in Ferroelectric Composites)
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