Electrical conductions in insulators such as resistance switching, conduction at interfaces, and conduction at domain boundaries and free surface of ferroelectrics are of interest. These conductions are often attributed to novel mechanism such as ferroelectric polarization. On the other hand, these interpretations appear not fully accepted, because the recent advanced theories of ferroelectric domains disregard screening indicated by these conduction phenomena. That is, these conduction phenomena are quietly regarded as the classical conduction originating from defects. In this paper, we examine these conductions in pure wide bandgap insulators in view of defects, using the direct-accessibility (tangibility) of conduction at free surfaces. Although most of these conductions in ferroelectrics may not be useful in large-scale applications, we show that they have fundamental implications on renovations of ferroelectric basics.

We present a comparative study of the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE), measured at room temperature for magnetite thin films deposited on different substrates in order to study the effects induced by the substrate, compressive or tensile strain and structural defects as anti-phase boundaries (APB), on the observed ANE. From our preliminary results we have observed an increase of the measured ANE in the case of compressive strain compared with the tensile one. Moreover our results also suggest that the density of APBs also play an important role in the ANE values.

We examine the electron transport that occurs within a zinc-oxide-based two-dimensional electron gas using Monte Carlo simulations. The sensitivity of the results to variations in the lowest energy conduction band valley electron effective mass is examined. Increased values of the electron effective mass result in diminished electron drift velocities and reduced sensitivity to the free electron concentration. In agreement with our previous studies for a fixed value of the electron effective mass [11], we find that the reduced scattering due to the screening of the impurity and polar optical scattering leads to a slightly higher mobility of the 2DEG at low-fields but reduces the peak velocity, since gaining a higher energy due to the reduced polar optical phonon scattering enhances the effects of the non-parabolicity within this material.

Currently, large efforts are going on to scale up PZT thin film processes for large volume MEMS fabrication. It is critical to complete the scaling up with optimized film properties. In this work we report about microstructural control and piezoelectric properties of RF magnetron sputtered PZT (Pb(Zrx,Ti1−x)O3) thin films. The former is a prerequisite to achieve good properties homogeneously on the entire wafer, and with a good repeatability. We focus on the use of a commercial tool capable to reach a deposition rate of 1nm/sec with a thickness uniformity better than +/-3%. We show particularly how the texture can be chosen between (100) and (111) orientation upon tuning the thickness of a very thin TiO2 seed layer on fully passivated Pt electrodes. The surface morphology as resulting from the various grain shapes is strongly influenced by the self-bias established on the substrate, and by the growth temperature. PZT films with compact grain structure and flat surface reached a transverse piezoelectric coefficient e31,f of -23±1 C/m2 in the actuator mode (converse piezoelectric effect) and a dielectric strength of 0.5MV/cm. Both are remarkable values for un-doped, pure PZT thin films.

A ferroelectric crystal with charge-free surface conditions contains polarized domains which can form a flux closure with zero net polarization. In the presence of an external electric field, the flux closure in a two-dimensional continuum reorients its spontaneous polarization to align with the field. Based on this concept of ferroelectric switching coupled with mechanical straining, we demonstrate the working principle of a ferroelectric nano-actuator. The behavior of the actuator is explored under the action of electro-mechanical loading and its mechanism is simulated with a 2D phase-field model. The design of nano-actuator is modified to achieve greater actuation displacements by bending a thin device.