Mechanical Stress Modified Ferroelectric Aging Behavior

Mechanical stress effect on aging behavior of Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 (BLT) and PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3 (PZT) films was investigated. It is found that the remnant polarization decreases with time while the coercive field increases in stress-free BLT films. For unconfined PZT films, both the remnant polarization and the coercive field decrease as time elapses. The applied tensile stress weakens the aging of remnant polarization of BLT films but strengthens the aging of coercive field, while the applied tensile stress possesses opposite effect. In contrary, the applied compressive stress simultaneously improves the aging behavior of both remnant polarization and coercive field of PZT films. Mechanical-stress-induced variation of domain wall mobility in different materials was suggested as the possible origin of these observations. This work indicates that the aging behavior modification using stress could be realized, and it is helpful for promoting the reliability of ferroelectric films for industrial applications. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC