Thin Ferroelectric Film between Double Schottky Barriers

摘要

Thin-film uniform metal-ferroelectric-metal (M/F/M) structure between back-to-back Schottky barriers (SBs) is considered. The ferroelectric is assumed to be a p-type semiconductor, and the film thickness is far less than the depletion layer induced by the SB. Numerical integration of the Poisson equation is used to analyze the influence of double Shottky barriers on the distributions of the electric field, potential, and polarization across the film thickness as functions of external bias and the film electrical history. The range of structure parameters is determined, where the Poisson equation for M/F/M structure can be solved analytically providing an obvious and easy-to-interpret representation of the M/F/M behavior. Electric fields induced by back-to-back SBs under zero external bias compensate each other to a great extent. As a result, the potential across the ferroelectric film remains virtually unchanged providing the flat-band condition in the energy diagram of zero-biased M/F/M structure; in fact, the external bias applied to M/F/M structure exerts influence only on the reverse-biased barrier.