Ferroelectricity in Pb(Zr${}_{0.5}$Ti${}_{0.5}$)O${}_3$ thin films: critical thickness and 180${}^{\circ }$ stripe domains

Abstract

The ferroelectric properties of disorder Pb(Zr${}_{0.5}$Ti${}_{0.5}$)O${}_3$ thin films are investigated with Monte Carlo simulations on the basis of a first-principles-derived Hamitonian. It is found that there exists a critical thickness of about three unit cells ($\sim$12 Å) below which the ferroelectricity disappears under the condition that the in-plane polarizations are suppressed by sufficient clamping effect. Above the critical thickness, periodic $180^{\circ }$ stripe domains with out-of-plane polarizations are formed in the systems in order to minimize the energy of the depolarizaing field. The stripe period increases with increasing film thickness. The microscopic mechanism responsible for these phenomena is discussed.

5 pages, 5 figures

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• Finite-temperature properties of PZT alloys from first principles
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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Polarization Relaxation Induced by Depolarization Field in Ultrathin Ferroelectric BaTiO${}_3$ Capacitors
• Colloquium: Physical properties of group-IV monochalcogenide monolayers
• Unusual polarization patterns in flat epitaxial ferroelectric nanoparticles
• Interface effects in ferroelectric PbTiO${}_3$ ultrathin films on a paraelectric substrate
• Surface reconstruction and ferroelectricity in PbTiO${}_3$ thin films
• In-Plane Ferroelectric Tunnel Junction
• Domain evolution of BaTiO3 ultrathin films under electric field: a first-principles study
• Effects of anisotropic elasticity in the problem of domain formation and stability of monodomain state in ferroelectric films