Insights into electrical properties of CrTe2/PZT composite films

Abstract

Magnetoelectric materials have shown great application prospects in the fields of new magnetoelectric devices, spintronic devices, high-performance information storage, and processing. The application of new magnetoelectric materials to fabricate devices with superior performance and excellent quality is of great significance. In this work, the sol-gel method was employed to prepare PZT film on Pt substrate and the CrTe2 film by micromechanical exfoliation was transferred to the PZT film. Combined with magnetron sputtering technology, the device was fabricated by depositing Au electrodes on the CrTe2/PZT composite film. The hysteresis loops and I–V characteristic curves of CrTe2/PZT composite films were measured at room temperature and ambient conditions. The results show that the residual polarization intensity and coercive field voltage of the composite film are decreased compared with the single-phase PZT. The preparation of a new magnetoelectric CrTe2/PZT composite film was realized. With the increase of CrTe2 coverage rate from 0 to 24% under Au electrode, the critical conduction voltage Vc decreases from 7.1 V to 5.2 V, and the leakage current increases from 50 μA to 90 μA at room temperature and ambient conditions. Herein, the influence mechanism of CrTe2 films with different areas on the leakage characteristics of PZT films and the model of the leakage characteristics have been systematically studied. Our results broaden the scope of future device applications based on magnetoelectric CrTe2/PZT composite films.