Ferroelectric BaTiO3 kept in order

Ferroelectric BaTiO₃ kept in order

The most used platform for micro-electronic technology is Si, which is usually incompatible both chemically as well as structurally with materials, which offer new functionality such as BaTiO₃ at typical synthesis conditions. By a careful combination with matching oxide layers, it was demonstrated that the ferroelectric properties of BaTiO₃ can be preserved or even enhanced, even when grown on incompatible Si. The image shows an electron microscopic image (EMAT, Antwerp) of such an atomically engineered layered structured by pulsed laser deposition, showing the crystal structure on the left and the chemical composition on the right (BaTiO₃ in the purple layers). The consortium of researchers represented by Antwerp, Zurich, Ljubljana and led by the IMS group from the university of Twente found that the precise ordering of the layers determined the precise ferroelectric order in the layers. This work was published in Nature Communications (doi:10.1038/s41467-021-27898-x)

Contact: g.koster@utwente.nl