Mechanism for leakage current conduction in manganese doped Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 (BLT) ferroelectric thin films

Abstract

Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 (BLT) is one of the prospective candidate materials for data storage devices application. In order to understand the leakage current conduction mechanism in BLT we have studied Mn doped Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 (BLT) thin films with varying concentration of Mn. These films were prepared by chemical solution deposition technique. The structure and phase analysis of these films was performed at room temperature by X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscope was used to investigate the surface morphology. Different leakage current conduction mechanisms, e.g., Schottky emission, Modified Schottky, Poole–Frenkel emission and space charge limited (Lampert’s theory) conduction were examined to explain the true nature of charge transport phenomena in BLT and Mn doped BLT thin films. It was found that BLT and Mn doped BLT thin films leakage current conduction mechanism follows the Lampert’s theory of space charge limited conduction in an insulator with traps.