Abstract
AbstractCrystalline materials with broken inversion symmetry can exhibit a spontaneous electric polarization, which originates from a microscopic electric dipole moment. Long-range polar or anti-polar order of such permanent dipoles gives rise to ferroelectricity or antiferroelectricity, respectively. However, the recently discovered antiferroelectrics of fluorite structure (HfO2 and ZrO2) are different: A non-polar phase transforms into a polar phase by spontaneous inversion symmetry breaking upon the application of an electric field. Here, we show that this structural transition in antiferroelectric ZrO2 gives rise to a negative capacitance, which is promising for overcoming the fundamental limits of energy efficiency in electronics. Our findings provide insight into the thermodynamically forbidden region of the antiferroelectric transition in ZrO2 and extend the concept of negative capacitance beyond ferroelectricity. This shows that negative capacitance is a more general phenomenon than previously thought and can be expected in a much broader range of materials exhibiting structural phase transitions.
Funder
This work was financially supported out of the State budget approved by the delegates of the Saxon State Parliament.
Semiconductor Research Corporation
United States Department of Defense | Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
National Science Foundation
United States Department of Defense | United States Air Force | AFMC | Air Force Office of Scientific Research
EC | European Regional Development Fund
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico
Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Chemistry,Multidisciplinary
Cited by
23 articles.
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