PNNL

Abstract

Switching behavior of (BaTiO3)8/ (SrTiO3)4 heterostructure superlattice grown on SrTiO3 substrate was studied by employing the phase field method. To investigate the constraint effect of the substrate on switching, three types of superlattice/substrate interface mechanical relaxation conditions were considered, i.e. the fully ommensurate, partially relaxed and fully relaxed. Our simulation results demonstrated that the hysteresis loops under the three types of constraints were very different. The interfacial coherency affects dramatically the coercivity and remanence of the superlattice films. The mechanism of the hysteresis loop varying with interfacial coherency was analyzed by the ferroelectric domain configuration and its evolution during the switching process. The hysteresis loop of fully relaxed superlattice shows application potential on ferroelectric energy storage materials.