Science Daily April 9, 2021
Ferroelectric materials are subjected to repeated mechanical and electrical loading, leading to a progressive decrease in their functionality, ultimately resulting in failure. An international team of researchers (Australia, China, USA – Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) observed ferroelectric fatigue as it occurred using in-situ biasing transmission electron microscopy. They discovered that charge accumulation at domain walls is the main reason of the formation of c domains, which are less responsive to the applied electric field. The rapid growth of the frozen c domains leads to the ferroelectric degradation. This finding gives insights into the nature of ferroelectric degradation in nanodevices and reveals the role of the injected charges in polarization reversal…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
In-situ biasing TEM setup and determination of initial a1/a2 90° domains. Credit: Nature Communications volume 12, Article number: 2095 (2021)Â