Screening Of Polarization Charges Research Articles

Origin of the injection-dependent emission blueshift and linewidth broadening of III-nitride light-emitting diodes

III-nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs) exhibit an injection-dependent emission blueshift and linewidth broadening that is severely detrimental to their color purity. By using first-principles multi-scale modeling that accurately captures the competition between polarization-charge screening, phase-space filling, and many-body plasma renormalization, we explain the current-dependent spectral characteristics of polar III-nitride LEDs fabricated with state-of-the-art quantum wells. Our analysis uncovers a fundamental connection between carrier dynamics and the injection-dependent spectral characteristics of light-emitting materials. For example, polar III-nitride LEDs offer poor control over their injection-dependent color purity due to their poor hole transport and slow carrier-recombination dynamics, which forces them to operate at or near degenerate carrier densities. Designs that accelerate carrier recombination and transport and reduce the carrier density required to operate LEDs at a given current density lessen their injection-dependent wavelength shift and linewidth broadening.

Local Electric Property Modification of Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions Induced by Variation of Polarization Charge Screening Conditions under Measurement with Scanning Probe Techniques

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy in ultrahigh vacuum conditions and conductive atomic-force microscopy in ambient conditions were used to study local electroresistive properties of ferroelectric tunnel junctions SrTiO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/BaTiO3. Interestingly, experimental current-voltage characteristics appear to strongly depend on the measurement technique applied. It was found that screening conditions of the polarization charges at the interface with a top electrode differ for two scanning probe techniques. As a result, asymmetry of the tunnel barrier height for the opposite ferroelectric polarization orientations may be influenced by the method applied to study the local tunnel electroresistance. Our observations are well described by the theory of electroresistance in ferroelectric tunnel junctions. Based on this, we reveal the main factors that influence the polarization-driven local resistive properties of the device under study. Additionally, we propose an approach to enhance asymmetry of ferroelectric tunnel junctions during measurement. While keeping the high locality of scanning probe techniques, it helps to increase the difference in the value of tunnel electroresistance for the opposite polarization orientations.

Unveiling the double-well energy landscape in a ferroelectric layer

The properties of ferroelectric materials, which were discovered almost a century ago1, have led to a huge range of applications, such as digital information storage2, pyroelectric energy conversion3 and neuromorphic computing4,5. Recently, it was shown that ferroelectrics can have negative capacitance6-11, which could improve the energy efficiency of conventional electronics beyond fundamental limits12-14. In Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire theory15-17, this negative capacitance is directly related to the double-well shape of the ferroelectric polarization-energy landscape, which was thought for more than 70 years to be inaccessible to experiments18. Here we report electrical measurements of the intrinsic double-well energy landscape in a thin layer of ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2. To achieve this, we integrated the ferroelectric into a heterostructure capacitor with a second dielectric layer to prevent immediate screening of polarization charges during switching. These results show that negative capacitance has its origin in the energy barrier in a double-well landscape. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ferroelectric negative capacitance can be fast and hysteresis-free, which is important for prospective applications19. In addition, the Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 used in this work is currently the most industry-relevant ferroelectric material, because both HfO2 and ZrO2 thin films are already used in everyday electronics20. This could lead to fast adoption of negative capacitance effects in future products with markedly improved energy efficiency.

Extensional vibration characteristics and screening of polarization charges in a ZnO piezoelectric semiconductor nanofiber

We study extensional vibrations of a ZnO piezoelectric semiconductor fiber driven by a time-harmonic end force. A theoretical analysis is performed using a one-dimensional model based on the phenomenological theory of piezoelectric semiconductors consisting of the equations of piezoelectricity coupled to the continuity equation of electrons. A series of resonance frequencies are identified. It is found that these frequencies are lower than those of the corresponding piezoelectric dielectric fiber because the mobile charges in the semiconductor screen the effective polarization charges and thus weaken the piezoelectric stiffening effect. Various electromechanical fields at resonances are calculated and examined. Numerical results show that the effective surface polarization charge plays a more dominant role than the effective body polarization charge. The mobile charges can screen the body polarization charges greatly, but not the surface polarization charges.

The ferroelectric field effect on the two-dimensional electron gas at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (001) interface: Insights from first principle simulations

We perform first-principles calculations to explore the possibility of tuning the two-dimensional electron gas at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 (001) interface through BaTiO3 substrate. A metal-to-insulator transition is found at the interface as the polarization of BaTiO3 reverses. Through the potential analysis of the LaAlO3/SrTiO3/BaTiO3 superstructure, we find that the intrinsic electric field of LaAlO3 is significantly suppressed as the polarization points away from the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, while it is enhanced with the polarization pointing to the interface. The ferroelectric field control of the intrinsic electric field, and therefore the electronic reconstructions at the interface, originating from the screening of polarization charges, opens the way to the development of novel nanoscale electronic devices.

Unusual domain evolution in semiconducting ferroelectrics: A phase field study

Abstract The effect of electrical conductivity on the domain evolution of semiconducting ferroelectrics is investigated using a phase field model which includes the drift of space charges. Phase field simulations show that the tail-to-tail 90° charged domain wall appears during the domain formation in the semiconducting ferroelectrics at zero field, which is prohibited in common insulating ferroelectrics. Due to the screening of polarization charges, the domain switching takes place through the motion of head-to-head 180° charged domain wall in the semiconducting single-domain ferroelectrics subjected to an electric field. Comparing to the insulating ferroelectrics, the semiconducting ferroelectrics have a lower speed of domain evolution due to the decrease of mobility of charged domain walls. The response of semiconducting ferroelectrics to a mechanical load is also found different from that of insulating ferroelectrics.

Spreading resistance microscopy of polycrystalline and single-crystal ferroelectric films

Thin films based on lead zirconate titanate with stoichiometric composition near the morphotropic boundary have been studied using atomic-force microscopy methods. The dependence of the local conductivity on the local polarization direction has been observed for all samples, independently of substrate type, deposition method, and film thickness. It has been shown that the current response to the applied voltage exhibits a long current relaxation, about several tens of seconds, which is two to three orders of magnitude greater than the current relaxation time in an external circuit, associated with the ferroelectric domain switching. The conductivity features have been explained by recharging of traps localized at ferroelectric grain boundaries near electrodes and involved in polarization charge screening.

Polarization Dependence and Relaxation of the Current in Polycrystalline Ferroelectric Pb(ZrTi)O3 Film

ABSTRACTUsing Scanning Spreading Resistance Microscopy and direct current-voltage measurements, a long-relaxation transport current in polycrystalline PZT films is shown to depend on the polarization direction and voltage rise rate, the latter is typical for a capacitive current. The clockwise current hysteresis is observed at any polarization of the film. We suppose that the long current relaxation is due to recharge of traps, which participate in screening of polarization charges on PZT grain boundaries. The polarization charges response to applied bias for a short time, whereas the traps response to variation of the polarization charges takes much longer time.

Magnetoelectric effect at the SrRuO3/BaTiO3 (001) interface: An ab initio study

Ferromagnet/ferroelectric interface materials have emerged as structures with strong magnetoelectric coupling that may exist due to unconventional physical mechanisms. Here we present a first-principles study of the magnetoelectric effect at the ferromagnet/ferroelectric SrRuO3/BaTiO3 (001) interface. We find that the exchange splitting of the spin-polarized band structure, and therefore the magnetization, at the interface can be altered substantially by reversal of the ferroelectric polarization in the BaTiO3. These magnetoelectric effects originate from the screening of polarization charges at the SrRuO3/BaTiO3 interface and are consistent with the Stoner model for itinerant magnetism.

Eight logic states of tunneling magnetoelectroresistance in multiferroic tunnel junctions

We propose a theoretical model based on the concept of multiferroic tunnel junction. The model is capable of producing eight different logic states by combining the spin-filter effect and the screening of polarization charges between two electrodes through a general spintronic tunneling. The dependence of the conductance ratio with very large magnitude on electric polarization, exchange splitting, barrier width, and bias voltage is investigated. The result may provide some insights into the realization of octal data storage (namely, the eight different logic states are used as octal code), which could lead to the tremendous increase of memory storage density.

Polarization charge screening and indium surface segregation in (In,Ga)N/GaN single and multiple quantum wells

Energies and oscillator strengths of the optical transitions in (In,Ga)N/GaN quantum-well structures with thin cap layers are investigated theoretically. Based on a self-consistent solution of the Schr\"odinger-Poisson equations, the internal fields generated by spontaneous surface charges and piezoelectric interface charges are systematically discussed for different sample configurations under consideration of indium surface segregation. We vary background doping density, thickness of the cap layer, number of quantum wells, indium content, and polarity of the structure. Indium surface segregation is shown to result in a blueshift of the transition energy and in a decreased optical matrix element at the same time. Background doping influences the band-edge alignment not only via screening of the polarization charge at the material interfaces by quantum-confined carriers, but also via ionized dopants in depletion layers. This becomes particularly important in case of Ga-face-grown material with n-type doping. We find that the position of the quantum well within the sample severely affects transition energy and optical matrix element.