Experimental and Theoretical Investigation into the Dielectric Behaviour of Ferroelectric Thin Film Superlattices

Abstract

AbstractPulsed laser deposition has been used to fabricate thin-film capacitor structures in which the dielectric layer is composed of a superlattice of Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 and Ba0.2Sr0.8TiO3. The properties of the capacitors were investigated as a function of superlattice periodicity. The dielectric constant was significantly enhanced, and temperature migration of the peak in dielectric constant as a function of frequency was observed, at stacking periodicities of a few unit cells. However, such ‘relaxor-like’ features were found to be associated with high dielectric loss. Analysis of the imaginary permittivity as a function of frequency showed that fine-scale superlattices conform to Maxwell-Wagner behaviour, indicating that the observed features may be an artefact of increased carrier mobility. Modelling showed that both dielectric enhancement and frequency relaxation could readily be reproduced by Maxwell-Wagner formalism.