Return to search

Nonlinear electronic conductivity in lithium niobate domain walls

Applying ferroelectric materials for nanoelectronic circuits opens, next to exploiting completely new functionalities, the possibility of improving resource efficiency in electronic circuits. Due to its defined and easy-to-manipulate domain structure, lithium niobate (LiNbO3, LNO) is a promising candidate to realize such circuits. As a prerequisite, a detailed understanding of the underlying conduction mechanisms is required for a future large scale application.
The main field of attention of this thesis is the domain wall conductivity in lithium niobate, investigated with temperature-dependent dc conductivity measurements as well as higher-harmonic current analysis under alternating-voltage excitation. Thereby the parameters of the electric field are of special interest, comprising the static dc field and both the amplitude and the frequency of the ac excitation voltage. Prior to the analysis of the experimental results, the setups are characterized in depth and a theoretical framework to calculate higher-harmonic current contributions generated by non-ohmic conduction models is derived. In case of high static offset voltages, an ohmic-like conductance is observed, which is ascribed to the intrinsic conductivity of the domain wall. For lower static offset fields, a diode-like current-voltage characteristic is found, originating from the junction of the domain wall and the metallic contact electrode. The results are compared to measurements at an industrial Schottky diode taken under the same conditions. Based on the theory of metal-semiconductor junctions, the effective donor density within the conducting domain wall is estimated to be of the order of 1019/cm3, which agrees well with theoretical calculations in the literature.
An equivalent circuit based on two diodes and two resistors is proposed to model the observed nonohmic conductance. For all experimental techniques, a good agreement between this model and the experimental data is observed, proving especially the non-ohmic conductivity to be of Schottky-type.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:77639
Date11 April 2023
CreatorsZahn, Manuel Peter
ContributorsEng, Lukas M., Krohns, Stephan, Beyreuther, Elke, Rüsing, Michael, Technische Universität Dresden
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:masterThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis, doc-type:Text
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Page generated in 0.0016 seconds