Tip-Based Proximity Ferroelectric Switching and Piezoelectric Response in Wurtzite Multilayers
Author
Eugene Eliseev, Anna Morozovska
Title
Tip-Based Proximity Ferroelectric Switching and Piezoelectric Response in Wurtzite Multilayers
Description
The code used to analyze the results of FEM-calculations presented at [Eliseev et al. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.09196]
Category
Academic Articles & Supplements
Keywords
ferroelectric multilayers, wurtzite structure, local probing
URL
http://www.notebookarchive.org/2025-06-6ywoq00/
DOI
https://notebookarchive.org/2025-06-6ywoq00
Date Added
2025-06-15
Date Last Modified
2025-06-15
File Size
3.84 megabytes
Supplements
Rights
CC BY 4.0
Download
Open in Wolfram Cloud
Tip-Based Proximity Ferroelectric Switching and Piezoelectric Response in Wurtzite Multilayers
Tip-Based Proximity Ferroelectric Switching and Piezoelectric Response in Wurtzite Multilayers
Eugene A. Eliseev and Anna N. Morozovska
Proximity ferroelectricity is a novel paradigm for inducing ferroelectricity, when a non-ferroelectric polar material (such as AlN), which is unswitchable with an external field below the dielectric breakdown field, becomes a practically switchable ferroelectric in direct contact with a thin switchable ferroelectric layer (such as Al1-xScxN). Here, we develop a Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire approach to study the proximity effect of local piezoelectric response and polarization reversal in wurtzite ferroelectric multilayers under a sharp electrically biased tip. Using finite element modeling we analyze the probe-induced nucleation of nanodomains, the features of local polarization hysteresis loops and coercive fields in the Al1-xScxN/AlN bilayers and three-layers. Similar to the wurtzite multilayers sandwiched between two parallel electrodes, the regimes of “proximity switching” (when all layers collectively switch) and the regime of “proximity suppression” (when they collectively do not switch) are the only two possible regimes in the probe-electrode geometry. However, the parameters and asymmetry of the local piezo-response and polarization hysteresis loops depend significantly on the sequence of the layers with respect to the probe. The physical mechanism of the proximity ferroelectricity in the local probe geometry is a depolarizing electric field determined by the polarization of the layers and their relative thickness. The field, whose direction is opposite to the polarization vector in the layer(s) with the larger spontaneous polarization (such as AlN), renormalizes the double-well ferroelectric potential to lower the steepness of the switching barrier in the “otherwise unswitchable” polar layers. Tip-based control of domains in otherwise non-ferroelectric layers using proximity ferroelectricity can provide nanoscale control of domain reversal in memory, actuation, sensing and optical applications. The ability of the tip-induced proximity switching to differentially switch multilayers, based on the order of the layers, provides a powerful knob for selective domain engineering.
Below we present the code used to analyze the results of FEM- calculations posted at arXiv.org as [Eugene A. Eliseev, Anna N. Morozovska, Sergei V. Kalinin, Long-Qing Chen, and Venkatraman Gopalan. Tip-Based Proximity Ferroelectric Switching and Piezoelectric Response in Wurtzite Multilayers (2025); https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.09196]
Computed data-sets
Computed data-sets
AlN 40 nm film
AlN 40 nm film
AlN 30 nm /(Al,Sc)N 10 nm bilayer
AlN 30 nm /(Al,Sc)N 10 nm bilayer
AlN 20 nm /(Al,Sc)N 20 nm bilayer
AlN 20 nm /(Al,Sc)N 20 nm bilayer
AlN 10 nm /(Al,Sc)N 30 nm bilayer
AlN 10 nm /(Al,Sc)N 30 nm bilayer
(Al,Sc)N 40 nm film
(Al,Sc)N 40 nm film
(Al,Sc)N 20 nm / AlN 20 nm bilayer
(Al,Sc)N 20 nm / AlN 20 nm bilayer
(Al,Sc)N 10 nm / AlN 20 nm /(Al,Sc)N 10 nm multilayer
(Al,Sc)N 10 nm / AlN 20 nm /(Al,Sc)N 10 nm multilayer
AlN 10 nm / (Al,Sc)N 20 nm /AlN 10 nm multilayer
AlN 10 nm / (Al,Sc)N 20 nm /AlN 10 nm multilayer
Figures
Figures
Function to separate the selected parts of dataset
Function to separate the selected parts of dataset
AlN0-(Al,Sc)N40
AlN0-(Al,Sc)N40
AlN10-(Al,Sc)N30
AlN10-(Al,Sc)N30
AlN20-(Al,Sc)N20 (Figure 2)
AlN20-(Al,Sc)N20 (Figure 2)
AlN30-(Al,Sc)N10
AlN30-(Al,Sc)N10
AlN40-(Al,Sc)N0
AlN40-(Al,Sc)N0
(Al,Sc)N20-AlN20 (Figure 3)
(Al,Sc)N20-AlN20 (Figure 3)
AlN-(Al,Sc)N-AlN (Figure 4)
AlN-(Al,Sc)N-AlN (Figure 4)
(Al,Sc)N-AlN-(Al,Sc)N (Figure 5)
(Al,Sc)N-AlN-(Al,Sc)N (Figure 5)
Figures of polarization and coercive field dependence on the thickness of (Al0.73Sc0.27)N layer
Figures of polarization and coercive field dependence on the thickness of layer
()N
Al
0.73
Sc
0.27
d33eff estimation for AlN20-(Al,Sc)N20 (Figure S6)
d
33eff
Cite this as: Eugene Eliseev, Anna Morozovska, "Tip-Based Proximity Ferroelectric Switching and Piezoelectric Response in Wurtzite Multilayers" from the Notebook Archive (2025), https://notebookarchive.org/2025-06-6ywoq00
Download
