EPITAXY, INTERFACES, AND DOMAIN BOUNDARIES OF ROOM TEMPERATURE MULTIFERROIC MAGNETOELECTRIC FILMS AND HETEROSTRUCTURES

室温多铁性磁电薄膜和异质结构的外延、界面和磁畴边界

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-07058
• 负责人: Pignolet, Alain
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: Institut national de la recherche scientifique
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739284
• 关键词: EPITAXY; INTERFACES; DOMAIN; BOUNDARIES; ROOM

This research focuses on multiferroic materials exhibiting simultaneously magnetic and ferroelectric properties. Though a field of intense research, there are still very few known multiferroic materials at room temperature, and these materials still need a deeper understanding of their properties, in particular the coupling between the ferroelectric and magnetic properties, namely the magnetoelectric coupling. Recent investigations of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic thin films at a finer scale recently revealed that their domain walls have their own set of unique properties different from those of the domains, which can be controlled by external fields, opening the way to exploit these much localized functionalities to build true nanodevices. Understanding the domain wall properties, in particular their transport characteristics and associated physics, is essential in order to exploit their vast device potential, which could - in the long term - lead to truly reconfigurable nanoelectronics, where fully operational nanodevice circuits could be written, used and erased indefinitely. This research program will therefore study the fascinating properties of epitaxial thin films that do exhibit multiferroic and magnetoelectric properties at room temperature. In particular it will build on the body of work on the few epitaxial room temperature multiferroic thin films synthesized and investigated during the last 5 years, which exhibit a particular kind of domain walls, namely boundaries between in-plane orientation domains. The domain walls properties of these specific films will be studied, with a very strong emphasis on the local properties of the unique kind of domain walls they exhibit, which have never been studied before. Further building on the expertise acquired in growing epitaxial films of complex multiferroic films, the epitaxial growth of composite magnetoelectric thin films with various architecture will also be investigated and proof-of-concept devices will be fabricated using the room temperature magnetoelectric films produced. Finally, extending the knowledge acquired in epitaxial growth to a further class of materials, the epitaxial growth of multiferroic or magnetoelectric hybrid organic-inorganic materials, will be achieved and their properties, beyond photovoltaic features -including ferroelectric, piezoelectric, magnetic, possibly thermoelectric & electrochromic, properties will be investigated. This research program will result in a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms leading to the epitaxial growth of both inorganic and hybrid organic-inorganic functional materials, and will lay a solid physics and materials characterisation foundation for the vast device potential of epitaxial multiferroic magnetoelectric thin films and the unique local properties of their domain walls. It will also provide a very stimulating training environment for students and HQP in general, at the leading edge of today's research in the field.

这项研究的重点是同时表现出磁性和铁电特性的多铁性材料。尽管这是一个深入研究的领域，但已知的室温多铁性材料仍然很少，而且这些材料仍然需要更深入地了解它们的特性，特别是铁电和磁特性之间的耦合，即磁电耦合。最近对铁电和铁磁薄膜在更精细尺度上的研究表明，它们的畴壁具有自己的一组不同于磁畴的独特性质，这些性质可以通过外部场控制，从而为利用这些局部化功能开辟了道路。构建真正的纳米器件。了解畴壁特性，特别是它们的传输特性和相关物理特性，对于开发其巨大的器件潜力至关重要，从长远来看，这可能导致真正可重构的纳米电子学，其中可以编写、使用完全可操作的纳米器件电路并无限期地删除。因此，该研究计划将研究外延薄膜的迷人特性，这些薄膜在室温下确实表现出多铁性和磁电特性。特别是，它将建立在过去 5 年合成和研究的少数外延室温多铁性薄膜的工作基础上，这些薄膜表现出一种特殊类型的畴壁，即面内取向域之间的边界。我们将研究这些特定薄膜的磁畴壁特性，重点关注它们所表现出的独特磁畴壁的局部特性，这是以前从未研究过的。进一步建立在复杂多铁性薄膜外延薄膜生长方面所获得的专业知识的基础上，还将研究具有各种结构的复合磁电薄膜的外延生长，并使用所生产的室温磁电薄膜来制造概念验证器件。最后，将外延生长中获得的知识扩展到另一类材料，将实现多铁性或磁电杂化有机-无机材料的外延生长，并且它们的性能超越光伏特性，包括铁电、压电、磁性、可能的热电和电致变色特性将被研究。该研究项目将对无机和有机-无机杂化功能材料的外延生长机制有一个基本的了解，并将为外延多铁磁电薄膜和有机-无机杂化材料的巨大器件潜力奠定坚实的物理和材料表征基础。其域墙的独特局部属性。它还将为学生和总部提供一个非常刺激的培训环境，处于当今该领域研究的前沿。