Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:16:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6698.pdf: 13275782 bytes, checksum: 2c4bbd5a5c838552f7cbf82ce709e116 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-09 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / In this work, the lead-free ceramic powders of xBi0,5Na0,5TiO3 - (0,7186 - 0,7143x) Bi0,5K0,5TiO3 - (2814 - 2857x) BaTiO with x = 0,8200; 0,8625; 0,8792, 0,9126 and 0,9300 (BNBK1000x) were prepared by the solid state reaction method, followed by conventional densification. The ceramic bodies showed high density, which was higher than 95% in obtained samples. For the all ceramics were performed structural, micro structural, electric and anelastic characterizations. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated the formation of the complex perovskite type crystaline structure for all compositions analyzed without the presence of spurious phases. By the structural refinement by the Rietveld method of XRD data and by Raman spectroscopy were observed that for BNBK912 and BNBK930 compositions, at room temperature, the predominant symmetry is rhombohedral (R3c), while the BNBK820 composition exhibits a tetragonal crystalline symmetry (P4mm). For the BNBK879 and BNBK826 compositions presented a mixture of phases, possibly with rhombohedral and tetragonal symmetry, reaveling the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) of this system. The microstructure of BNBK1000x ceramics was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), where the morphology grains with irregular sizes and shapes, where the increased levels of K+ and Ba2+ ions suppressed the growth of the grains. The characterizations by Raman spectroscopy at room temperature showed broad Raman modes, due to the chemical and/or structural disorder related to the substitution of elements Bi and Na for Ba and K. The ferroelectric characterizations at room temperature of the BNBK1000x ceramics showed that all compositions studied are ferroelectric. Through the comparison among the measurements of electrical impedance and mechanical spectroscopy, was possible to identify the different structural and electric phase transitions that were employed in the construction of a pseudodiagram of phases for the BNBK1000x compositions. / Neste trabalho, os pós-cerâmicos livres de chumbo xBi0,5Na0,5TiO3 - (0,7186 - 0,7143x) Bi0,5K0,5TiO3 - (2814 - 2857x) BaTiO com x = 0,8200; 0,8625; 0,8792, 0,9126 e 0,9300 (BNBK1000x) foram obtidos através do método de reação de estado sólido, seguido por densificação convencional. Os corpos cerâmicos obtidos apresentaram elevada densificação, sendo maior que 95% nas amostras produzidas. Para todas as cerâmicas foram realizadas caracterizações estruturais, microestruturais, elétricas e anelásticas. As análises por difração de raios-X (DRX) indicaram a formação da estrutura cristalina tipo perovkista complexa para todas as composições analisadas, sem a presença de fases espúrias. O refinamento estrutural, pelo método de Rietveld, dos resultados de DRX e os resultados de espectroscopia Raman apontam que para as composições BNBK930 e BNBK912 a simetria predominante em temperatura ambiente é romboédrica (R3c), enquanto que a composição BNBK820 apresenta a simetria cristalina tetragonal (P4mm). Já as composições BNBK879 e BNBK862 apresentaram uma mistura de fases, possivelmente com simetrias romboédrica e tetragonal, evidenciando o contorno de fase morfotrópico (CFM) deste sistema. A microestrutura das cerâmicas de BNBK1000x foi investigada por microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV), onde a morfologia apresentada pelas diferentes composições estudadas possuíam grãos com tamanhos e formatos irregulares, sendo que o aumento dos teores dos íons de K+ e Ba2+ inibiram o crescimento dos grãos. A caracterização por espectroscopia Raman, em temperatura ambiente, apresentou modos Raman amplos, mostrando um elevado grau de desordem química e/ou estrutural devido à substituição dos elementos Bi e Na por Ba e K. As caracterizações ferroelétricas, também em temperatura ambiente das cerâmicas de BNBK1000x mostraram que todas as composições estudadas possuem propriedades ferroelétricas. Através da comparação entre as medidas de impedância elétrica e anelástica, levando em consideração as caracterizações estruturais e ferroelétricas com temperatura, foi possível identificar diferentes transições de fase estruturais e elétricas, que foram empregadas na construção de um pseudo-diagrama de fases para as composições de BNBKx.

Abstract In this thesis, dielectric and thermal behaviours due to the application of an electric field were studied in relaxor ferroelectric (1−x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-PT) and (1−x)Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PZN-PT) systems of great technological importance. Special attention was given to the behaviour of the electric-field-induced phase transitions and electrocaloric effect, which are closely related to the existing and potential applications. Reactive sintering or columbite methods were used to fabricate polycrystalline PMN-PT ceramics with various compositions (x=0−0.3). In addition, commercial PMN-PT single crystals with composition close to the morphotropic phase boundary region were used. A studied PZN-PT crystal composition was grown by solution gradient cooling technique. Materials were mainly studied by means of dielectric and direct temperature measurements. The electrocaloric effect observed in a ceramic PMN-PT system was found to show distinct maximum values close to the thermal depolarization temperatures with low electric fields. The temperature range and magnitude of the electrocaloric effect was significantly expanded to high temperatures with increasing electric fields due to the contribution of polar nanoregions. The maximum electrocaloric temperature change was in the range of 0.77−1.55 °C under an electric field of 50 kV/cm. In addition, temperature change measurements on depoled PMN-0.13PT ceramics demonstrated that the electrocaloric effect is accompanied with an irreversible part below its depolarization temperature due to hysteresis loss and a possible phase transition type response related to the evolution of the macroscopic polarization. An electric field application to the <001> and <011> directions in PMN-PT crystals was found to cause distinct anomalies in the dielectric and temperature change responses. These anomalies were attributed to the complex polarization rotation routes and different phase stability regions in the electric-field-temperature phase diagrams of PMN-PT. Furthermore, measurements on PMN-PT crystals provided the first direct indications of a temporarily reversed electrocaloric effect with an increasing electric field. In addition, the measured electrocaloric trends in PZN-PT crystal were reproduced by a simple lattice model and mean-field approximation around the transition temperature. This demonstrated that the electrocaloric effect is driven mainly by the dipolar entropy lowering. / Tiivistelmä Tässä työssä tutkittiin dielektristen ominaisuuksien ja lämpötilan käyttäytymistä teknologisesti merkittävissä (1−x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-PT) ja (1−x)Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PZN-PT) ferrosähköisissä relaksorimateriaaleissa sähkökentän vaikutuksen alaisena. Tutkimuksen erityishuomion kohteena olivat sähköisesti indusoidut faasimuutokset sekä sähkökalorinen ilmiö, jotka liittyvät läheisesti nykyisiin sekä tulevaisuuden sovellutuksiin. Monikiteisiä PMN-PT keraamikoostumuksia (x=0−0,3) valmistettiin sekä reaktiivisella sintrauksella että kolumbiittimenetelmällä. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa käytettiin kaupallisia PMN-PT erilliskiteitä, joiden koostumus on lähellä morfotrooppista faasirajaa. Työssä käytetty PZN-PT erilliskide kasvatettiin jäähdyttämällä korkean lämpötilan liuoksesta. Materiaaleja tutkittiin pääosin lämpötilan ja dielektristen ominaisuuksien mittauksilla. Kun PMN-PT keraamisysteemiin kohdistettiin alhainen sähkökenttä, sähkökalorisen ilmiön selkeä maksimiarvo havaittiin lähellä materiaalin termistä depolarisaatiolämpötilaa. Suuremmilla sähkökentän arvoilla sähkökalorinen ilmiö voimistui ja sen lämpötila-alue laajeni korkeampiin lämpötiloihin polaaristen nanoalueiden kytkeytymisen vuoksi. Sähkökalorisen lämpötilamuutoksen maksimi vaihteli välillä 0,77−1,55 °C sähkökentän arvolla 50 kV/cm. Lisäksi lämpötilamittaukset depoolatulle PMN-0,13PT koostumukselle osoittivat, että sähkökalorisen ilmiön ohella materiaalissa esiintyy makroskooppisen polarisaation muodostumiseen liittyvä palautumaton lämpöenergia depolarisaatiolämpötilaa pienemmissä lämpötiloissa hystereesihäviön ja mahdollisen faasimuutoksen vaikutuksesta. PMN-PT erilliskiteiden dielektrisyys- ja lämpötilavasteessa havaittiin selkeitä muutoksia sähkökentän vaikuttaessa <001> ja <011> kidesuuntiin. Nämä muutokset ovat selitettävissä PMN-PT:n polarisaation kompleksisten rotaatiosuuntien ja erityyppisten sähkökenttä-lämpötila -faasidiagrammien stabiilisuusalueiden avulla. PMN-PT kiteiden mittauksissa havaittiin myös ensimmäinen suora osoitus väliaikaisesti käänteisestä sähkökalorisesta ilmiöstä sähkökentän kasvaessa. Lisäksi mitatut PZN-PT erilliskiteen sähkökaloriset ominaisuudet transitiolämpötilan läheisyydessä pystyttiin pääpiirteittäin mallintamaan käyttämällä yksinkertaista hilamallia ja keskimääräisen kentän approksimaatiota. Mallinnuksen mukaan sähkökalorinen ilmiö aiheutuu pääasiassa sähköisesti indusoidusta dipolientropian alenemisesta.

One third of world’s total energy is used in production of electricity and one fifth of the total electricity produced in the world is used in lighting. Hence, the materials that have high potential in the field of photovoltaic’s and photoluminescence have recently drawn special attention to meet the ever increasing energy demands. In this thesis, we have studied a few materials that hold tremendous promises in fabricating photovoltaics and photoluminescent devices. Any ferroelectric material is an efficient solar energy converter as it contains an the intrinsic dipolar field which can effectively separate the photo excited electron and hole. We have developed a few materials which possess inherent polarization efficiently absorb over a wide portion of the solar spectrum and hence can find application in the field of photovoltaics. Secondly, we also dealt with semiconductor nonmaterial’s which are technologically very important owing to their improved photoluminescence properties. We tried to improve their light emitting efficiency by engineering crystal structure in nanometer length scales. The thesis deals with such advanced energy materials and is divided in seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the fundamental concepts that are relevant in the subsequent chapters. The chapter is started with a brief scenario of current status of energy production and its usage. Next, we have discussed the prospects of ferroelectric materials in photovoltaic devices. This is followed by a brief background on ferroelectricity and related properties which we have studied subsequently. At the end of this chapter a brief overview of photoluminescence properties in semiconductor nonmaterial’s is presented. In this section we have addressed the particular issues that need to be taken care of in order to improve their light emission properties. Chapter 2 describes different experimental and theoretical methods that have been employed to carry out different studies presented in the thesis. Chapter 3 addresses the possibility of employing BaTiO3 (BTO) based composite perovskite oxides as a potent photovoltaic material. It is known that BTO can produce photocurrent upon excitation with suitable light source. However, inability of BTO to absorb sufficient sunlight owing to its near UV band gap prevents to make use of this material in photovoltaic devices. In order to reduce the band gap we have tried to tune the electronic structure at the band edge by doping non-d0 transition metal ions at Ti site. As it is known in the literature an isovalent substitution of Ti4+ stabilizes non-polar phase of BTO we employed a co-doping strategy to substitute tetravalent Ti with equal percentage of a trivalent and a pentavalent metal ion. Keeping in mind off-centering of Ti4+ is primary reason behind the large ferroelectric polarization of BTO, a judicious choice of co-dopant was necessary to minimize reduction of polarization due to replacement of Ti. We have found at least two pairs of co-dopants, namely Mn3+-Nb5+ and Fe3+-Nb5+ which at low doping concentration ( < 10%) effectively reduces the band gap of BTO without affecting its polarization to a large extent. We systematically increase the doping concentration of both the pair of dopants and found Mn3+-Nb5+ pair is more efficient over Fe3+-Nb5+ both in terms of reducing band gap and retaining the polarization of BTO. We have characterized the ferroelectric nature of all the doped compositions with the help of dielectric, polarization and pyroelectric measurements. We have also performed first principle density functional theory (DFT) calculations for an equivalent doped composition and addressed the nature of modulations of electronic structure at the band edges which is responsible for such large reduction of band gap. Chapter 4 deals with composite perovskite materials which posses large tetragonal distortions with reduced optical band gaps. Here we have exploited Cu-Nb and Cu-Ta pair which upon complete substitution of Ti of BTO leads to composite perovskites with enhanced tetragonal distortion of the perovskite lattice. For two resultant compositions, namely BaCu1/3Nb2/3O3 and BaCu 1/3Ta2/3O3 we have characterized the optical and ferroelectric properties. We found though these material possess small band gap (∼ 2 eV), these are not ferroelectric in nature. Results of second harmonic generation measurements and refinement of powder X-ray diffraction both establish Centro symmetric nature of these materials. We infer from these results that presence of large tetragonal distortion is a result of symmetric Jahn-Teller type distortion of Cu2+ and not due to off-centering of any of the metal ions in their MO6 octahedral geometries. In Chapter 5, we have considered the material SrTiO3 (STO) which is stable in cubic paraelectric phase at room temperature. But at the same time this material is considered as an incipient ferroelectric due to presence of an active polar vibrational mode which does not become completely soft even at temperature close to 0 K. While this polar vibrational mode can easily be frozen by making substitution at Sr site, a similar attempt by making substitution at Ti site failed earlier. Keeping in mind Ti is easier to substitute than Sr we employed same co-doping strategy that we have considered in Chapter 3. We found Mn- Nb and Mn-Ta co-dopants at low doping concentration are extremely useful in transforming incipient ferroelectric STO into a dipolar glass. We have characterized the glassy dipolar property of doped STO with the help of tem-perature dependent dielectric response of these material. At the same time we found these co-doped STO possess enhanced static dielectric constant at room temperature with favourable dielectric loss values in comparison to pure STO. We have also ad-dressed the origin of a glassy dipolar state with the help of DFT calculation performed on equivalent doped composition that we have considered for our experiments. In Chapter 6, we have considered another incipient ferroelectric material TiO2 in rutile phase which also possess polar vibrational mode at temperature close to 0 K. A lattice strain along the polar vibrational mode make symmetric non-polar structure unstable with respect to the distorted polar structure. In this context, we found two particular compositions FeTiTaO6 and CrTiTaO6 that are also stable in rutile phases at room temperature but possess similar strain due to presence of larger Fe or Cr and Ta in rutile lattice. Considering the fact these two composite rutile oxides are relaxer ferroelectric in nature, we critically evaluated the effect of the particular kind of strain that these materials introduce in rutile lattice. We also characterized relaxor ferroelectric property and optical band gap of these materials and commented on the potential of these materials in exploiting them in photovoltaic devices. Chapter 7 presents a unique strategy of making use of crystal defects in improving photoluminescent properties of semiconductor nanocrystals. We have shown defects when introduced in nanocrystals in a controlled protected manner efficiently overcome the problem of self absorption which is known to reduce quantum efficiency of emit-ted light. Controlling synthesis conditions we separately prepared CdS nanocrystals with and without intergrowth defects. We characterized the presence of the intergrowth defect with the help of high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) image. We have also characterized Stokes’ shifted PL emission and ultrafast charge carrier dynamics of these NCs with intergrowth defects. To support these experimental findings we have computed the electronic structures of model nanoclusters possessing similar intergrowth defects that has been observed in HRTEM images. We find that the presence of defects in a nanocluster particularly affect the position of the band edge. However our joint density of state calculation shows that contribution of these defect states to an absorption spectra is negligible. Thus presence of defect states at band edge ensures a Stokes’ shifted emission without affecting the position of absorption. In a separate section of this chapter we have shown apart from intergrowth defects presence of twin boundary also provide similar mid-gap states that can alter its’ optical proper-ties to large extent. In summary, we have studied a few bulk and nano-materials which can show improved photovoltaic and photoluminescence property. We investigated effect of external dopant ions on a classical ferroelectric material BaTiO3 and two incipient ferroelectric materials SrTiO3 and rutile TiO2. We have also shown that efficient defect engineering could be extremely useful in improving photoluminescent property of CdS nanocrystals which is a prototype of II-VI semiconductor nanomaterials. In a separate Appendix Chapter, we have shown an easy and efficient way to suppress coffee ring effect which takes place universally when a drop of colloidal suspension is dried on a solid substrate. We have shown temporary modification of hydropho-bicity of a glass substrate not only can suppress the coffee ring effect but also leaves the particle in a highly ordered self-assembled phase after completion of drying process

In recent years bismuth-based, layer-structured perovskites such as SrBi2Nb2O9 (SBN) and SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) have been investigated extensively, because of their potential use in ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMs). In comparison with non-layered perovskite ferroelectrics such as Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT), these offer several advantages such as fatigue free, lead free, low operating voltages and most importantly their ferroelectric properties are independent of film thickness in the 90 to 500 nm range. For FeRAM device applications, large remnant polarization (Pr), low coercive field (Ec) accompanied by high Curie temperature (Tc) are required for better performance and reliable operation. Much effort has been made to improve the ferroelectric properties of SBN and SBT ceramics by doping on A or B sites. It was known in the literature that partial substitution of Sr2+ by Bi3+ ions in SBN and SBT would increase the Curie temperature and improve the dielectric properties. The focus of the investigations that were taken up was to improve the electrical, dielectric and ferroelectric characteristics of SrBi2Nb2O9 ceramics. It was reported that the ferroelectric and nonlinear optical properties of LiNbO3 and LiTaO3 could be improved when vanadium, the lightest element in group V of the periodic table is substituted for Nb or Ta along with Li and three oxygens. It is with this background the investigations have been taken up to see whether one can extend the same argument to the Aurivillius family of oxides. Therefore, the central theme of the present investigations aimed at substituting Nb5+ by a smaller cation V5+ in SBN and study its influence on the formation temperature, sinterability, structural and microstructural characteristics apart from its physical properties. Recently the optical properties of this material have been recognized to be important from the optical device point of view. Unfortunately single crystal growth of vanadium doped SBN was hampered because of the bismuth and vanadium loss (high volatility) observed in the process of growth. One of the routes that attracted our attention has been the glass-ceramic. It would be interesting to visualize the behavior of crystallites of nano/micrometer size embedded in a glass matrix as these crystals were known to give rise to exotic properties. One of the crucial steps in the process of fabrication of a glass nanocrystalcomposite system in which crystalline phases have symmetries that would eventually give rise to basic non - centrosymmetric properties such as piezoelectric, pyroelectric and Pockels effects, has been to choose a compatible matrix material associated with easy glass forming capability and the ability to evenly disperse dipolar defects within itself. Recent investigations into strontium borate SrB4O7 (SBO), lithium borate Li2B4O7 (LBO) glasses indicated that LBO by virtue of its favorable structure, thermal and optical properties would form a suitable host glass matrix for dispersing layer structured ferroelectric oxides belonging to the Aurivillius family of oxides. Since lithium borate has wide transmission window, it was worth making an attempt to fabricate optical composite of Li2B4O7 (LBO) and vanadium doped SrBi2Nb2O9 (SBVN) and to study its structural, dielectric, pyroelectric, ferroelectric and optical properties. Therefore the present thesis reports detailed investigations into the effect of vanadium doping on the structural and various physical properties of an n = 2 member of the Aurivillius family of oxides in the polycrystalline form and novel glass composites comprising nano/microcrystallites of this phase. Chapter 1 comprises a brief introduction to the dielectric, pyroelectric, ferroelectric and nonlinear optical properties of materials. In addition to the principles and phenomena, the material aspects of these important branches of physics are discussed. It also forms a preamble to the glasses, criteria for glass formation, glass – ceramics and subsequently ferroelectric and nonlinear optical effects that were observed in glasses and glass - ceramics. Chapter 2 describes the material fabrication techniques adopted to prepare polycrystalline and grain – oriented ceramics, glasses and glass nanocrystalcomposites. The details of various structural, dielectric, pyroelectric, ferroelectric and optical measurement techniques employed to characterize these materials are also included. Chapter 3 discloses the fabrication of strontium bismuth niobate ceramics and their characterization for dielectric and impedance properties. The dielectric properties of strontium bismuth niobate ceramics have been modeled based on Jonscher’s Universal formalism. The coefficients of the Jonscher’s expression, exponent n(T) undergoes a minimum and A(T) exhibits a peak at the Curie temperature, Tc (723K). A strong low frequency dielectric dispersion (LFDD) associated with an impedance relaxation has been found to exist in these ceramics in the temperature range 573 - 823K. The Z′′ of the AC complex impedance showed two distinct slopes in the frequency range 100Hz-1MHz suggesting the existence of two dispersion mechanisms. The exponents m and n were obtained from the curve fitting. The exponent n was found to exhibit a minimum at the Curie temperature, Tc (723K) whereas the m was temperature independent. Chapter 4 deals with the fabrication of vanadium doped SrBi2Nb2O9 ceramics and their characterization for microstructural, dielectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties. The average grain size of the SrBi2Nb2O9 (SBN) ceramic containing V2O5 was found to increase with increase in V2O5 content. The dielectric constant (εr) as well as the dielectric loss (D) increased with increase in grain size (6µm-17µm). The pyroelectric coefficient was found to be positive at 300K and showed an increasing trend with increasing grain size. Interestingly, the SrBi2(Nb0.7V0.3)2O9-δ ceramics consisting of 17µm sized grains showed higher remnant polarization (Pr) and lower coercive field (Ec) than those with grains of 7µm. Chapter 5 deals with the dielectric properties which were studied in detail in the 100Hz to 1MHz frequency range at various temperatures (300 – 823 K) for undoped and vanadium (10 mol%) doped SrBi2Nb2O9 (SBVN10) ferroelectric ceramics. A strong low frequency dielectric dispersion was encountered in these ceramics in the 573 – 823 K temperature range. The dielectric constants measured in the wide frequency and temperature ranges for both the samples were found to fit well to the Jonscher’s dielectric dispersion relations. The dielectric behavior of SBN and SBVN10 ceramics was rationalized using the impedance and modulus data. The electrical conductivity studies of layered SrBi2(Nb1-xVx)2O9-δ ceramics with x lying in the range 0 to 0.3 (30 mol%) were centered in the 573 – 823K temperature range as the Curie temperature lies in this range. The concentration of mobile charge carriers (n), the diffusion constant (D0) and the mean free path (a) were calculated using Rice and Roth formalism. The conductivity parameters such as ion hopping rate (ωp) and the charge carrier concentration (K′) term have been calculated using Almond and West formalism. The afore mentioned microscopic parameters were found to be V2O5 content dependent in SrBi2(Nb1-xVx)2O9-δceramics. Chapter 6 describes the fabrication of partially grain – oriented SrBi2(Nb1-xVx)2O9-δ (0 ≤x≤3.0 in molar ratio) ceramics and characterization for their structural, microstructural, dielectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties. The grain – orientation factor and the microstructural features were studied by XRD and scanning electron microscopy as a fuction of sintering temperature and V2O5 content. The dielectric constant measured along the direction parallel and perpendicular to the pressing axis has shown a significant anisotropy. The pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties were superior in the direction perpendicular to the pressing axis (polar) to that in the parallel direction. The fabrication and characterization details of (100 – x) (Li2B4O7) – x (SrO - Bi2O3 - 0.7 Nb2O5 – 0.3 V2O5) (10 ≤ x ≤ 60, in molar ratio) glasses and glass nanocrystal composites are dealt within Chapter 7. The nanocrystallization of strontium bismuth niobate doped with vanadium (SrBi2(Nb0.7V0.3)2O9-δ(SBVN)) has been demonstrated in Li2B4O7 glasses. The glassy nature of the as – quenched samples was established by differential thermal analyses (DTA). The amorphous nature of the as – quenched glasses and crystallinity of glass nanocrystal composites were confirmed by X – ray powder diffraction studies. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) of the glass nanocrystal composites (heat – treated at 783K/6h) confirm the presence of nano rods of SBVN embedded in Li2B4O7 glass matrix. Chapter 8 presents the physical properties of the glasses and glass nanocrystal composites. Dielectric constant of both the as – quenched and glass nanocrystal composites was found to increase with increase in the composition, whereas the loss was observed to decrease with increasing SBVN composition. Different dielectric mixture formulae were employed to analyze the dielectric properties of the glass nanocrystal composite. The electrical behaviour of the glasses and glass nanocrystal composites was rationalized using impedance spectroscopy. The observed pyroelectric response and ferroelectric hysteresis of these composites confirmed the polar nature. Various optical parameters such as optical band gap (Eopt), Urbach energy (∆E), refractive index (n), optical dielectric constant (ε′∞) and ratio of carrier concentration to the effective mass (N/m*) were determined. The effects of composition of the glasses and glass nanocrystal composites on these parameters were studied. Transparent glasses embedded with nanocrystallites of SBVN exhibited intense second harmonic signals in transmission mode when exposed to IR laser light at λ = 1064 nm. The thesis ends with a summary of the important findings and conclusions.

The influence of depolarization and its role in causing data retention failure in ferroelectric memories is investigated. Ferroelectric Hf₀.₅Zr₀.₅O₂ thin films 8 nm thick incorporated into a metal-ferroelectric-metal capacitor are fabricated and characterized with varying thicknesses of an Al₂O₃ interfacial layer. The magnitude of the depolarization field is adjusted by controlling the thickness of the Al₂O₃ layer. The initial polarization and the change in polarization with electric field cycling is strongly impacted by the insertion of Al₂O₃ within the device stack. Transient polarization loss is shown to get worse with larger depolarization fields and data retention is evaluated up to 85 °C.

The submitted thesis describes characteristics and use of the ferroelectric material which has their utilization in electronics and electro technical industry. The thesis describes behaviour ferroelectrics in temperature range. A suitable workplace was designed and its functionality was verified in selected ferroelectrics samples dependence of temperature of components of complex permittivity.

This thesis studies the properties and the applications of prospective ferroelectric materials which are used in electrical engineering and electronic industry. Further are physically explained and mathematically described the basic principles running in their structure. The practical part is aimed to build a workplace for measuring the components of the complex permittivity in the frequency and temperature area, controlled by the programmed measurement and service application using the Agilent VEE Pro 8.0 and MS Excel. The functionality of the workplace was verified on the selected material samples by measurement and evaluation of selected properties. For this issue was created electronic text, which can be used as a guide for laboratory exercises and it is an integral part of this work.

Title: Studies of Relaxor Ferroelectrics with Spontaneous Polar Nanoregions Author: Petr Ondrejkovič Institute: Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Supervisor: Ing. Jiří Hlinka, Ph.D., Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Abstract: The thesis is devoted to relaxor ferroelectrics with spontaneous polar nanoregions. We have investigated one of the canonical representatives, uniaxial strontium barium niobate, by means of neutron scattering, and also performed computer simulations with a model of a uniaxial ferroelectric with point defects. Neutron scattering studies of strontium barium niobate single crystals under a defined sequence of thermal and electric field treatments elucidate nature of distinct components of its transverse diffuse scattering. These components are associated mainly with the static ferroelectric nanodomain structure and the dynamic order-parameter (polarization) fluctuations. Moreover, high-resolution neutron backscattering experiments allowed us to resolve characteristic frequencies of the order-parameter fluctuations and prove that this component is caused by the same polar fluctuations that are responsible for the Vogel-Fulcher dielectric relaxation, the hallmark of relaxor ferroelectrics. The model system of a uniaxial ferroelectric with point...

Die off-axis Elektronenholografie im Transmissionselektronenmikroskop (TEM) erlaubt die quantitative Rekonstruktion der komplexen Objektaustrittswelle mit atomarer Auflösung. Die Auswertung der Phase dieser Welle ermöglicht die Unterscheidung der Atomsorten bzw. das Zählen der Atome in Projektionsrichtung sowie die Bestimmung von Atompositionen. Damit ist ein TEM über die einfache Abbildung hinaus ein sehr leistungsstarkes Messgerät zur quantitativen Analyse kleinster Strukturen bis hin zur atomaren Skala. Die Prozedur von der Aufnahme eines hochaufgelösten Elektronenhologramms über die Rekonstruktion bis zur bildfehlerkorrigierten Objektwelle ist jedoch sehr umfangreich und teils sehr anfällig für Artefakte. Diese Arbeit zeigt unter kritischer Betrachtung der einzelnen Einflüsse, wie dieser Weg zu beschreiten ist, um schlussendlich zu einer artefaktfreien, interpretierbaren Objektwelle zu gelangen. Im letzten Jahrzehnt haben Bildfehler-Korrektoren die höchstauflösende Transmissions-elektronenmikroskopie auf instrumenteller Seite revolutioniert. Auch die off-axis Holografie kann eine ganze Reihe von Vorteilen aus diesem elektronenoptischen Zusatzsystem ziehen. Neben der Analyse dieser einzelnen Verbesserungen, insbesondere der Phasensignalauflösung, wird gezeigt, wie es das Cs-korrigierte TEM zu optimieren gilt, um schließlich bestmögliche Ergebnisse für quantitative Objektanalyse zu erzielen. Zwei Anwendungsbeispiele zeigen experimentelle Ergebnisse der Elektronenholografie mit Cs-korrigierten Mikroskopen. Bei der Analyse ferroelektrischer Nanoschichten erweisen sich die einzigartigen Möglichkeiten der holografischen Auswertung im Zusammenspiel mit der nunmehr hervorragenden Signalauflösung als äußerst nützlich, um die ferroelektrische Polarisation zu ermitteln. Die Objektwellenrekonstruktion der Korngrenze in einer Goldfolie demonstriert weitere Verbesserungen für die Holografie, wenn zusätzlich eine neuartige Elektronenquelle mit höherem Richtstrahlwert zum Einsatz kommt. Einzelne Goldatome werden mit einem Signal-Rausch-Verhältnis von ca. 10 in Amplitude und Phase messbar. / Off-axis electron holography in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) allows reconstructing the complex object exit-wave quantitatively with atomic resolution. Analyzing the phase shift of this wave gives access to the atomic species and enables counting the number of atoms in projection direction as well as determining atom positions. Therefore, a TEM is a very powerful measuring device for quantitative analysis of smallest structures down to the atomic scale beyond simple microscopic imaging. The procedure of the recording of a high-resolution electron hologram, its reconstruction, and after numerical aberration correction finally ending up with the object-exit wave, is quite comprehensive and partially susceptible to artifacts. This work shows how to manage this procedure in order to obtain an interpretable object exit-wave, which is free of artifacts. In instrumentation within the last decade aberration correctors have revolutionized high-resolution electron microscopy. Also off-axis holography can benefit from this electron optical add-on module. Besides the exploration of each improvement, in particular the phase detection limit, this work demonstrates, how to optimize the Cs-corrected TEM in order to get best possible results for quantitative object analysis. Two application examples show experimental results of electron holography with Cs-corrected microscopes. For the investigation of ferroelectric nanolayers, the unique possibilities of the holographic evaluation together with the strongly improved signal resolution turn out to be very useful when determining the ferroelectric polarization. The object wave reconstruction of the grain boundary in a gold film demonstrates further improvements for holography, when additionally using a new electron gun with improved brightness. Single gold atoms become measurable with a signal-noise-ratio of about 10 in amplitude and phase.

This thesis is devoted to an experimental study of dielectric properties of incipient fer- roelectrics. The terahertz time-domain spectroscopy was used to investigate the complex permittivity spectra in both single crystals and various strained thin film structures versus temperature and applied electric bias. Namely, it allowed characterizing the ferroelectric soft-mode dynamics and its coupling to a central mode. An electric-field tunability of bulk single crystals of SrTiO3 was determined up to room temperature for the first time. The phenomenon is governed by soft-mode stiffening under applied field. As an application we proposed and characterized a tunable one-dimensional photonic structure with a thin SrTiO3 plate inserted as a defect layer. The importance of the soft-mode dynamics was stressed also in the study of bulk high density KTaO3 ceramics. A systematic study was performed of a KTaO3 thin film and especially of a set of strained multilayers consisting of SrTiO3/DyScO3 bilayers grown on DyScO3 substrate. Strain-induced ferroelectric transition was observed in these films governed by the soft mode coupled to a lower-frequency relaxation. A general model was developed describing the whole family of the studied samples. Effect of the composition stoichiometry of SrTiO3 films grown on DyScO3 was...