Effect of polarization fatigue on the Rayleigh coefficients of ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate thin films: experimental evidence and implications

TL;DR

This study investigates how polarization fatigue impacts the Rayleigh coefficients of ferroelectric PZT thin films, revealing that electrical cycling degrades their dielectric response due to interfacial layer growth, with implications for device durability.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence linking polarization fatigue to changes in Rayleigh coefficients and proposes a non-destructive evaluation method for ferroelectric device degradation.

Findings

Reversible and irreversible Rayleigh coefficients decrease with cycling

Interfacial degraded layer growth causes dielectric property degradation

Methodology offers a non-destructive evaluation of fatigue

Abstract

The effect of polarization fatigue on the Rayleigh coefficients of ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film was systematically investigated. It was found that electrical fatigue strongly affects the Rayleigh behaviour of the PZT film. Both the reversible and irreversible Rayleigh coefficients decrease with increasing the number of switching cycles. This phenomenon is attributed to the growth of an interfacial degraded layer between the electrode and the film during electrical cycling. The methodology used in this work could serve as an alternative non-destructive way for evaluating the fatigue endurance and degradation in dielectric properties of ferroelectric thin-film devices during applications.