Origin of the anomalous piezoelectric response in wurtzite Sc$_x$Al$_{1-x}$N alloys

Ferenc Tasnádi; Björn Alling; Carina Höglund; Gunilla Wingqvist; Jens Birch; Lars Hultman; Igor A. Abrikosov

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.137601

paper

Origin of the anomalous piezoelectric response in wurtzite Sc $_{x}$ Al $_{1 - x}$ N alloys

arXiv:1003.3353 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.137601

Abstract

The origin of the anomalous, 400% increase of the piezoelectric coefficient in Sc $_{x}$ Al $_{1 - x}$ N alloys is revealed. Quantum mechanical calculations show that the effect is intrinsic. It comes from a strong change in the response of the internal atomic coordinates to strain and pronounced softening of C $_{33}$ elastic constant. The underlying mechanism is the flattening of the energy landscape due to a competition between the parent wurtzite and the so far experimentally unknown hexagonal phases of the alloy. Our observation provides a route for the design of materials with high piezoelectric response.

10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

Origin of the anomalous piezoelectric response in wurtzite Scx​Al1−x​N alloys

Abstract

References in corpus (2)

Origin of the anomalous piezoelectric response in wurtzite Sc $_{x}$ Al $_{1 - x}$ N alloys